Singularity
by this-book-has-been-loved
Summary: AU where instead of landing in the trash nebula, Pidge finds herself on the same planet as a certain Galra prison camp. (Holt family reunion fic! No romantic relationships) Updates Mondays! Read it on Ao3: /works/10537530/chapters/23266539
1. Zephyr

**Part I: Constellations**

 **Chapter 1: Zephyr**

* * *

Everything had gone wrong.

 _Coran, what's happening?_

Just when things were starting to look up—the shields around Zarkon's command went down, the princess opened a wormhole—

 _The integrity of the wormhole has been compromised. It's breaking down!_

But something went wrong—because something _always_ had to go wrong.

 _What does that mean?_

And success was pulled away from under their feet, leaving them all in free fall.

 _It means we have no control over where we're headed!_

Spat out of the wormhole one by one, to destinations they couldn't decide, to the farthest reaches of space.

Pidge found herself blasted out into unfamiliar space, spinning out of control, spiraling downwards, caught in the gravity of a nearby planet.

"No, no, no," she muttered, pulling frantically at her joysticks. "Come on, girl, stay with me." The lion responded weakly, trying desperately to pull up, to level out. Her thrusters sputtered.

"No, no, we've entered atmo." They were hurtling towards the surface of the planet, the ground rushing up at her rapidly. Pidge deflated. "Oh, quiznak."

Then there was a crash, and she was in darkness.

* * *

There was a gentle nudging in her mind, slowly bringing her back to consciousness.

She let out a groan as the cabin slowly came into focus around her. "Oh jeez. That was quite a crash."

Her lion continued kneading at her mind, washing over her senses, asking silent wordless questions.

Pidge stretched experimentally, wincing as all her aches came to her at once. A deep throbbing beat at her chest, and she lightly massaged it. "Yeah," she muttered. "I'm fine. Just a bit sore." She slowly flexed her right ankle, rotating it gently. "You okay, girl?"

She was answered by a soft rumbling, a series of images running through her head.

Pidge sighed. "Alright. Could be worse. I guess. Definitely could be better, though."

The cabin was dark. The indicator lights on her armor illuminated the room slightly, casting a faint cyan glow over the cockpit. Pidge fumbled at the side of her helmet before locating the switch to activate the headlamp.

The console was a mess; a few control panels had been knocked out of place, leaving bare sparking wires. Pidge tried pulling at the handles, pushing some buttons. The screens in front of her flickered weakly, then went out again.

Going off what her lion had told her, she made a mental checklist. Mouth beam and tail beam were inoperable, as was the jaw blade. The particle barrier crystals had been knocked out of alignment. The metal plating on the side of the lion was dented. Only half the thrusters were functioning. Not to mention the busted console.

She couldn't fight. She couldn't put up her shields. She could barely fly. At this point, she was a sitting duck.

Pidge groaned. "Okay, girl," she said. "Looks like we're stuck here for a bit."

Her lion growled in assent.

"Well," Pidge announced, standing up and stretching. "Let's see what repairs I can get started on. How do I realign the barrier crystals?"

* * *

A few hours later, she found herself half-through a panel in the wall under the console, fiddling with the wires and circuits around her. "This one here, tighten this, readjust that…." She fitted a patch of circuitry back into place. "Alright, try now!"

The Green Lion rumbled, and slowly flickered back to life.

"Alright!" Pidge whooped, pulling herself out into the cabin. "That's more like it!" She started to screw the metal panel back into the wall. "So, what've we got? Particle barrier, cloaking, main power…?" She nodded, content. "Awesome. How're you doing on the bigger repairs?"

A flush of images and feelings ran through her head.

Progress was slow-going, but constant. The lion had decided to focus on the engines and thrusters first; the sooner they were operational, the sooner they'd be able to take off and find everyone else. But as for the weapons systems….

"We're not going to be able to do everything on our own," Pidge translated. "We'll need to get you back to the castle for a full repair."

A rumble of confirmation.

Pidge sighed, settling back into her chair and pulling off her helmet. "Okay. So flight capabilities. When will those be back online?"

 _Several quintants_ , was the response.

"Great," Pidge muttered. "And comms?"

 _Still dead._

"This just keeps getting better."

Green let out a low warning growl, gently admonishing her paladin.

Pidge sighed. "I know, I know, you're doing the best you can." She gazed down at her helmet, wishing she could just activate the comms and contact the rest of her team. "Well," she mused, "if we're going to be stuck here for a few days, we should probably know what 'here' is." She stood up, a little too forcefully, and barely made it a step before her right ankle gave out beneath her. With a yelp, she crashed to the floor, her helmet rolling across the cockpit.

A spike of worry rolled through her head as she fell, her lion mentally pacing anxiously.

Pidge sighed, rubbing at her ankle. "I'm fine," she assured her lion. "Just…maybe less fine than I originally thought." She gingerly pulled herself back up to a standing position. "I may have sprained my ankle," she admitted. "Do you have a medbay on here?"

Her lion guided her out of the cockpit towards a smaller room in the back. There was a metal cabinet against one wall, and upon opening it, Pidge found a array of food rations and first aid supplies. She sighed in relief. "Thanks, girl."

There was a small mirror on the inside of the cabinet. As she caught sight of her reflection, she noticed there was a small cut on her cheek. And considering how sore her chest was, she was probably riddled with bruises, maybe worse.

Not only was Green pretty banged up, but she was as well.

"Magic Altean painkillers," she mumbled, taking a bottle from the cabinet and glancing skeptically at the unreadable label. "Let's hope these work on humans."

She opened the bottle and shook a few of the translucent blue pills into her hand, swallowing one dry.

Instantly, a wave of calm passed through her, relieving her of all the tension and aches that she'd been dealing with for hours. She didn't realize how bad the pain had been until it was gone.

"Oh jeez," she murmured, taking a deep breath. "Wow. I'm gonna need to stock up on these." She placed the bottle back in the cabinet and started to make her way back to the cabin. "Why didn't you tell me about these before?" she teased.

Back in the cockpit, Pidge settled comfortably back in her seat. "First step," she told herself. "Find out where we are." She booted up the display screens. Green's "eyes" opened, allowing Pidge her first glance at what lay outside of the lion. "Sand," she noted. "And…a large rock? Oh, boy, this is exciting." She pulled up one of the smaller displays and pushed a few buttons, activating the star map and universal locator.

A error message flashed in red.

Pidge groaned. "Great. So not only are we on an unknown planet, but we have no clue where in the universe we are."

That was worrisome. Who knew what hostile forces could be out here? Were they in Galra-controlled space? Or perhaps this planet was inhabited by savage beasts.

And without operational weapons….

"We're gonna have to stay hidden," Pidge said, opening a few more display screens to run some other diagnostic scans.

As much as she'd love to leave Green cloaked over these next few days while they were stuck, stranded, on this planet, or have the particle barrier up the whole time, or even both––that would just be using up energy that they didn't have to spare.

"Yeah, you just focus on repairing yourself," Pidge assured her lion, patting the console comfortingly. "The sooner you're up and running, the better."

Her lion asked a question, focusing on what they could see of the planet outside.

Pidge frowned. "You want me to check it out?"

Green responded in the affirmative, already opening the hatch on the ceiling.

"You sure you'll be fine on your own?"

The lion's reply was almost indignant, and Pidge laughed. Even without a functional weapons system, Green was as feisty as ever.

"Alright, alright," Pidge said, standing and grabbing her helmet off the floor. "Then I'll go ahead and take a look around."

She exited the cabin through the door on the roof, climbing atop her lion to look around.

The planet was dusty, covered in sand and rocks. As far as she could see ahead of her, there was desert. They had crashed in the foothills of a mountain range, leaving imposing mountains rising on one side of her, and the equally imposing desert stretching out as far as she could see on the other side. "We seem to have landed in the middle of nowhere," she reported. "We're pretty shielded, with the mountains. But we can't be blending in too well."

Everything was awash in gold, the sun bathing the desert sands in its warm light. If it weren't for the orange tinge to the sky, the wispy clouds sparkling like strokes of golden paint, she could almost believe she was back on Earth.

She pushed that thought out her head, firmly focusing herself on the issue at hand.

"Okay, let's see if there's anything else on this planet besides sand." Pidge dropped back into the lion, heading down to where her green-and-white podship was docked. "Let me out, girl. I'll see what I can find."

The bay doors on the lion's chest slowly opened, and Pidge went racing out.

She navigated her speeder amongst the rocks, flying down the hill until she hit the open and exposed desert floor. Not wanting to abandon her cover entirely, she kept close to the mountains. If anything were to spot her, Pidge was confident she'd be able to use the mountains to her advantage.

She tore through the rocky terrain, keeping an eye out for any abnormalities. It was a while before she spotted anything other than just the cliffside.

There were two figures, vaguely humanoid, up ahead. Pidge narrowed her eyes, trying to get a better view before she got too close and they saw her. Her helmet's visor zoomed in for her, focusing on the figures. They were silvery gray, with purple accents, unmistakably—

 _Galra._

She yelped, yanking hard on the controls, taking a sharp turn to hide behind an outcropping of rock.

Two Galra sentries. Thankfully only the robots, no officers. But if there were sentries here, then there must be more Galra nearby. An outpost, maybe? Or was this another planet that they'd enslaved and colonized?

Green was concerned. Pidge felt the lion's worry passing through her, mirroring her own heightened heart rate, but she only tightened her grip on the controls of her pod. "I'm going to check it out."

Despite the protests of her lion, Pidge climbed out of the pod and carefully crept around the outcropping she'd hidden behind.

She glanced over at the sentries, which thankfully hadn't seemed to notice her. _Good_ , she thought. _Let's keep it that way_.

Using her jetpack, she made her way higher up the mountain, keeping an eye on the oblivious sentries below.

Once she was directly above them, she started pushing experimentally at a boulder, inching it towards the edge of the cliff. "Come on," she groused. " _Move_."

With a final heave, the sandstone rock went tumbling down the mountain, smashing into the sentries below.

"Yes!" Pidge cheered. "Now let's see what you're guarding here." She hopped down the cliff, using her jetpack to slow her fall.

Once at the ledge where the sentries had stood, she cautiously peered around the corner of rock, spotting something on the terrain below.

It was a large compound, with several squat metal buildings half-buried in the sands. A wall surrounded the yard, interspersed with watchtowers, leaving no doubt in Pidge's mind as to what she saw.

It was a prison camp.

Groups of people milled about, wearing the dark purple-gray of Galra prisoners. While some looked rather humanoid, others were unlike anything she'd ever seen. Amongst them, she spotted figures with brightly colored skin, with antennae, with horns, with feathers, with too many limbs. Squadrons of sentries stood guard around the perimeter of the compound.

There was one prisoner who caught her attention almost right away. Pale tan skin, and a mop of messy caramel-colored hair.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she took him in, her helmet automatically zooming in. He looked…like he could be _human_.

Then the figure turned around, and Pidge gasped as she got a clear look at his face.

"Matt?"

* * *

 **AN:**

Hi!

This is my first Voltron fic and I'm super excited to be posting it.

Pidge is perfect and wonderful and is also in fact the light of my life, and I desperately need her to find her family, so I decided to write this.

WARNING: Though this IS a canon-divergent fic, it was written AFTER watching season 2! So it WILL contain spoilers for season 2! This has been a PSA.

I've already finished writing the rough draft for this; chapters 2 - 10 are currently undergoing beta reads and edits. So this should be updated quickly! I'll try to post chapters on a weekly basis, but no promises.

Come say hi to me on Tumblr! My url is this-book-has-been-loved.

I hope you guys enjoy this story!

~ Brigit


	2. Together

**Chapter 2: Together**

* * *

She needed to get down there.

 _Matt_ was down there. Her brother, who she'd been searching for fruitlessly for over a year.

And now she'd found him. He was actually _here_.

Her mind was racing, thousands of thoughts crowding her head, fighting for dominance. Pidge squeezed her eyes shut, trying to focus. She needed a plan.

"Okay," she mumbled to herself. "Just get in, get Matt, and get out."

So the first step, of course, would be to find a way in undetected.

"Hide the speeder," she instructed herself, glancing back towards the green-and-white pod behind her. She couldn't see it from her position, but if more Galra came over to investigate the destroyed sentries, they could still find it. Pidge scrambled down the cliffside, jumping over towards the outcropping she'd stashed the speeder behind. "Damn it, why didn't I equip that thing with cloaking?"

She was already back inside the pod, starting it up again to find a better place to park it, when the controls locked up on her. Her lion was in her mind again, speaking to her through images, showing her all the ways this could go wrong.

Pidge's grip on the controls tightened. "I don't care if this is risky," she snapped. "I'm going in. This is my _brother_."

The presence in her mind retreated somewhat and sent a wave of comfort through her. _Be careful._

"I will."

Just get in, get Matt, and get out.

The pod lit back up, and Pidge carefully maneuvered it farther back the way she'd came. She parked it in a small alcove surrounded on three sides by boulders. An overhanging bush scrub blocked it from view.

She stepped back, admiring her handiwork. "Alright, that oughta do it."

She made her way back on foot, stopping by the destroyed sentries to pick up a severed hand. "And you're going to be my access key."

Pidge glanced down at the compound below. "Now…how do I get in without anyone seeing…?"

Green rumbled gently, bringing up an image of the cloaking device, of the lion going invisible mid-flight.

Pidge rolled her eyes "Well, _excuse me_ , I didn't have the time or supplies to get cloaking for my _armor_." She paused. "Although, now that I think about it, that wouldn't be a bad idea. Remind me about that, once we get back to the castle."

She froze. "Get back to the castle," she repeated. She let out a frustrated scream. "Damn it! We don't _have_ a way to get back to the castle. We still can't fly. 'Get in, get Matt, and get out.' Get out and go _where_?" She crumpled to the floor, burying her face in her hands. "Come _on_ , Pidge, just calm down and think things _through_ for once!"

Her lion sent a comforting purr.

Pidge sighed, relaxing slightly. "Thanks, girl."

Green continued purring until her paladin had sufficiently calmed down. Pidge took a deep breath, focusing on the problem at hand. "Alright. We can't leave yet. But that doesn't mean I can't go see him, let him know I'm here, start working on an escape plan. So that brings us back to square one. I still need to get in there undetected."

Images of the stars filled her head, of the sun disappearing beyond the horizon and the sky going dark.

Pidge glanced up, looking towards the setting sun.

"Nightfall," she murmured.

* * *

She moved in under the cover of darkness.

With Green's help, she'd managed to find a way to deactivate the lights on her armor, rendering her practically invisible.

It wasn't too hard to get down the mountain to the perimeter wall, and then it was just a quick jetpack-aided jump over the wall to get into the yard. There were several squat buildings scattered about the compound, so she made her way to the one in the middle, and used the severed sentry hand to slip inside.

The halls were dark and long, haunted only by the mechanical footfalls of the sentries.

Carefully, Pidge made her way through the building, heading for the center, where she hoped to find the central control room.

An imposing door stood before her, two guards walking past in precise robotic movements. She waited until the guards had passed before dashing across the hall and through the door.

As she'd hoped, the room was empty. The system was down, but it didn't take much for her to boot it back up and open the prisoner log.

She stared intently at the screen, scrolling through the list of prisoners. "There's too many," she muttered. "There's no way I'll find him like this." She paused the program, instead pulling up a search bar and entering some keywords.

 _Human_.

Nothing.

 _Earth_.

No results.

Frustrated, she racked her brain for anything else she could try. Were there other names for her planet, her species, that she could try?

Desperately, she entered, _Terran_.

The display flashed green.

There was a match.

A photograph of her brother was staring at her, a readout of information appearing next to it.

 _Prisoner 117-9876  
Cell G13120  
Species: Terran_

There was more information listed below––notes on behavior and transfer history––but Pidge ignored it.

She smiled. "Gotcha."

From there in the control hub, she was able to download full schematics of the compound, marking out the clearest route from where she was to Matt's cell.

And then, to cover her break-in, she needed to shut down the security. If she'd had more time, she would've programmed every camera and sentry to be conveniently looking the other way or not in the sector at all. But she was in a rush here, so she settled for simply powering them off.

She patched into the system, her fingers racing frantically over the keys. "Ten doboshes," she murmured to herself, setting the timer. "Ten minutes to find him before the system's back online."

Cameras were down, sentries were down––the path to her brother's cell was completely unobstructed.

With that complete, she ran from the control hub, back out into the yard, and towards the building she knew to be prison block G. She consulted her map once inside, letting it guide her down the quiet halls until she found herself in front of his cell.

She stood in front of the door for a moment, reminding herself that _yes_ this was _actually happening_ , before pulling out the severed hand of the sentry and holding it up to the scanner.

The door slid open with a hiss, revealing the lone occupant within.

He stood, his eyes narrowing in confusion. "Who are you?"

The cell door closing behind her, Pidge reached up and removed her helmet. "Matt? It's me."

All the tension dropped from his shoulders, his eyes widening, as if couldn't dare to believe what he saw. "Katie?"

Her lip trembled and tears threatened to spill over. She opened her mouth to say something else, then stopped, simply throwing her helmet to the ground and launching herself into her brother's arms. "Oh my god, Matt," she gasped between her sobs. "I've missed you so much."

"It's really you," he rasped.

"It's really me."

After a moment, he pulled away, searching her face intently. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for _you_ , you dummy," she replied, wiping at her tears. "There's no way in hell I was going to leave you stranded out here." She paused, sobering slightly. "Do you know where Dad is? Is he here too? I didn't see him in the system, but––"

Matt hung his head. "No. I don't know where he is."

Pidge sighed. "We'll find him," she murmured, more to herself than to Matt. She looked back up at her brother. "I'm so glad you're okay."

His hand cupped her cheek. "I just––I can't believe it's _you_." His voice broke. "But...what are you doing here? I mean...why aren't you at home? Why are you out here at all?"

"I told you, I've been looking for you, you and Dad," she told him. "I couldn't just _leave_ you out here. I mean, _I_ knew you were okay and _they_ knew you were okay but I didn't know if you were _really_ okay, and they weren't _doing anything about it_. I mean what was I _supposed_ to do––just sit around and do nothing? Come _on_ , Matt."

"I…Katie, I'm going to need you to slow down a bit. What do you mean?"

"They told us you were dead," she whispered. "The Garrison. They told us that the Kerberos mission failed and the ship crashed and you were all _dead_."

Matt inhaled sharply, his eyes flickering downwards. "I've wondered," he whispered, "what they told people. What they told _you_ ––you and Mom." He looked back up at her. "But…you didn't believe that."

"Not for a second."

"How did you know? How to come find us?"

"Shiro escaped."

Matt froze. "What?"

"He escaped. From the Galra. Got in an escape pod and flew back to Earth."

Matt seemed dumbstruck. He rubbed anxiously at his knee. "And he's…okay?"

Pidge was silent for a moment, staring at her helmet, lying abandoned on the floor. _I don't know_. But of course she couldn't say that, not now. She took a deep breath. "A lot has happened," she replied, choosing her words carefully. "It's…kind of a long story."

He smiled reassuringly. "I've got time."

Pidge grimaced. "Yeah, well, I don't." She tapped at her gauntlet, bringing up the timer she'd set before. There were about four doboshes left. "I shut down the security system, but it won't be long before it's up and running again."

Matt stared at the clock, watching as the numbers continued to tick down. "So what happens now?"

Pidge sighed. "We can't leave. My…ship is damaged. I won't be able to take off for a few more days; and even then, I can't make full repairs on my own. But I promise," she added, taking his hand, "I'm not leaving without you."

"Okay." He smiled, squeezing her hand. "I trust you."

She hugged him again. "I'll see you again tomorrow night," she assured him. "And I'll explain everything, I promise."

She glanced at her timer again, showing just under three doboshes. With a resigned sigh, she picked up her helmet and pulled it back on. As the door slid back open, she cast one last longing look at her brother. "I love you, Matt."

"Love you too, Katie."

And then she was gone.

* * *

 **AN:**

Hello!

Sorry this chapter is so short. I promise, they do get longer! (A lot of later chapters are like 2 or 3 times as long as this one….)

I'm so happy this fic has gotten such a positive reaction! You guys are great. Thank you all so much for reading 3 I'm really glad you all like my ramblings.

Feel free to come hang out with me on tumblr! My url is this-book-has-been-loved.

~ Brigit


	3. Innocence

"Alright, how's that?"

Again, Pidge was crawling around inside the walls of her lion, helping out with some of the smaller repairs that Green couldn't do on her own.

The lion roared her approval.

"Awesome. That should help with fixing up that dent in the side. What next?"

The lion's response was more of a question, asking the paladin which system she wanted to focus on.

Pidge paused, thinking to herself. "I am determined to get that GPS up and running again," she muttered. "So we can find out just where in the universe we are. Also need to fix the comms." She started wriggling out of the internal wiring of her lion, emerging back in the cockpit. "Might as well get started on those."

She stood up and stretched, and a stab of pain shot up her chest. "Oh, fuck. Ow. I'm gonna need more of that Altean advil."

Her lion growled in concern.

"Relax, Green, I'm fine, really." Pidge opened the cabinet in the back room, shaking a few more pills out of the bottle. "And I'll be a lot better once I'm back at the castle and able to get proper medical attention."

She made her way back to the cabin, slumping in the pilot's chair. "Okay. Universal GPS thing. As long as that's down, not only do I not know where I am, but the rest of the team will have trouble tracking me as well. So how do I get that back up and running?"

* * *

She spent hours working on the lion's systems, both the hardware and software, fixing up the programming, the wiring, the circuitry.

And finally––

"We've got location!" she announced triumphantly. "Now let's find out where the hell we are."

She pulled up the star map and a blinking green dot appeared, showing her position. She zoomed in, selecting the planet that the green dot was hovering over.

"Serva," she read, looking over the coordinates and readouts. "Okay. Good news is we're pretty far from Zarkon's central command. Bad news is that we have no clue where the rest of the team is." She stared at the star map a bit longer, then dismissed it. "Well, that's one more thing off our to-do list. How're our flight capabilities looking? Any progress there?"

Green rumbled, relaying the situation to her paladin.

She pursed her lips. "Got an estimate on when that'll be ready to go?"

This time, the answer was tinged with an apologetic note, as the lion showed Pidge a time-lapse of the sun rising and setting and rising again.

Two more days. Though she was itching to get Matt and get as far away from this planet as she could, she consoled herself over the fact that two days wasn't too long to wait.

"Thanks, girl," Pidge said, placing her hand on the console. "I know you're doing your best, and I really appreciate that."

Green purred in satisfaction, and Pidge smiled.

The paladin looked outside the cockpit, watching as the sun started to set below the dusty horizon. "While you work on that," she said, "I'm going to go visit Matt. I'll be back soon."

* * *

It went even smoother the second night: sneaking into the compound, deactivating security, and slipping into Matt's cell.

He was waiting for her, looking up and smiling when the door opened. "Hi."

"Hey, dude," she greeted, pulling off her helmet. "Good news: I figured out how to remotely deactivate the security systems. Which means I can turn them on and off whenever. Which means we're not stuck on a ten-minute time limit this time."

"That's great. How'd you manage to do that?"

"Time and determination," she replied. "Also, I got an estimate on when we'll be able to leave. It's still another, like, two days before we can fly again. My ship runs on willpower and magic, but she still needs repairs when she's damaged."

"Where did you get a ship like that?"

"Ah, would you accept 'aliens' as an answer?"

"Katie," he admonished. "You promised me an explanation."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I did." She took a deep breath. "Have you…heard of something called Voltron?"

He looked at her in surprise. "I've heard a few stories," he replied. "Rumors. But that's all they are, right? Just stories?"

Pidge shook her head. "No. It's definitely real. I'm…I'm one of the paladins."

He froze, staring at her in shock. "What?"

"I'm a paladin of Voltron," she repeated. "Piloting the Green Lion. Taking down the Galra Empire, bit by bit."

He continued to stare at her, openmouthed. "I…."

She sighed. "Maybe I should…start at the beginning."

"Yeah…that would be a good idea."

"So…," she started. "I may or may not be, like, banned from Garrison property for life now."

"Goddammit, Katie."

"And then I may or may not have created a fake identity for myself and re-enrolled."

He stared at her in openmouthed shock. "You realize that's, like, _highly_ illegal, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Definitely. If they manage to piece together that Katie Holt and Pidge Gunderson are the same person, then I'm gonna be in a lot of trouble."

"Katie, that's where I work! Dad, too. It's kind of a prominent place in our lives."

"They were withholding information," she snapped. "I had a right to see that, I had a right to know what really happened to you and Dad." Her fists clenched. "And if they weren't going to show me…if they weren't willing to do anything to help you…then I guess it was up to me."

He was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Okay. So you illegally obtained some information, got banned, then re-enrolled with a fake name. What happened next?"

"Then Shiro showed up."

* * *

The next morning found Pidge crouched inside one of the power thrusters, furiously scrubbing at the dust and grime that had gotten caked inside. "I really wish we'd known about this earlier," she muttered. "Dirt jamming the system. I could've cleaned this out days ago, and then we could've been off the planet by now."

The lion growled, gently reprimanding her paladin.

"I know, I know," she grumbled. She stopped, setting down her rag and surveying her handiwork. "I think this is about as clean as I can get them," she announced. "Not perfect––they're still kinda scratched up––but it'll have to do." She hopped down from the thruster, landing gently on the sand. "Well, that's another thing done," she said to herself as she made her way back towards the opening into the cockpit. "Shields, cloaking, visual, maps…should we get to work on comms?"

Green purred her assent.

"Alright. Comms it is."

Back inside the cabin, Pidge reopened the panel beneath the console. "You know, I'm starting to think maybe we should just leave this thing open," she joked, setting the metal slab off to the side. She stuck her head inside and looked over all the wiring. "So, which one of these things is it?"

* * *

Pidge messed with a few more wires, splicing them together and watching as sparks flew. "I think I've got this figured out," she declared––more to herself than to her lion. "Alright, let's give this a shot." She climbed out of the hole in the wall, pulling herself back into her chair and pulling up her controls. "Aaaaand comms are up!" Pidge exclaimed, opening the communications display. "Kind of a hollow victory, I guess, since no one's in range. But a victory nonetheless. Nice going, girl."

Green purred in satisfaction.

"I think that's pretty much everything," Pidge realized. "Just flight. And then once we get back to the castle, we can get to work on the weaponry, and patching up that big dent in your side." She leaned back in her seat confidently. "But this is good. We've gotten a lot done over the past few days. I'm proud of us."

* * *

"We're, like, number one on the Galra 'Most Wanted' list," Pidge continued. "Since we're pretty much the only thing that has a chance of stopping them."

"That's…incredible," Matt said, and Pidge turned to meet his eyes. "Katie, I'm so proud of you." He reached out and gave her hand a squeeze. "And I know Dad would be too."

 _Just you wait, kiddo. Something tells me that you're going to have your own crew someday. You're going to fly with them to worlds so far away, we can't even imagine. I bet my bottom dollar you're going to be part of something that makes the whole universe sit up and take notice._

"Yeah," she whispered. "I hope so."

Sensing her trepidation, he changed the subject. "So. Your new space buddies. Tell me about them."

"Oh my _god_ ," she groaned. "Shiro's been acting like such a _mom_. Lance has referred to him on more than one occasion as 'Space Dad'."

" _Space Dad?!_ " Matt repeated, laughing. "Oh my god."

Pidge grinned. "I think you'd get along with Lance."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. You both act like over-protective big brothers."

Matt snorted. "Glad to know that someone was filling in for me."

Her smile grew a bit more somber. "Mostly, though, he's just a huge dork."

"He seems like a nice guy," Matt told her. "What about the rest of the team?"

"Keith is crazy," she replied. "That's pretty much all you need to know about him."

"Noted."

"And Hunk is like the human personification of a hug." She gazed at her helmet, memories swirling in her head. "Allura, the princess," she continued, quieter this time, "she's always trying to help. She and Coran don't really understand humans––I mean, we're the first they've met. But they really try." She stopped, her eyes starting to mist up. "I just…I really miss them. All of them. We were never really that close, back at the Garrison. But now…." She sighed. "We've only been out here doing Voltron stuff for a couple months, but they already mean so much to me." She hugged her legs closer to her body. "They're…almost like family."

Matt wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. She melted into his embrace, burying her face into his shoulder.

Her misty eyes turned to hiccuping sobs. He just held her, and let her tears run their course.

After a few minutes, the sobs faded away, and the hiccups that racked her shoulders gave way to light giggles as the sheer hilarity of her situation hit her, and she laughed through her tears.

Matt squeezed her. "Are you okay?"

"I am hyped up on some magic alien advil, my dude."

He blinked. "…what?"

"Yeah, I think I may have sprained my ankle. Also bruised a rib? Maybe? I dunno, I haven't really checked yet. I've been busy making repairs after the crash landing."

"Holy shit, Katie."

"It's fine. I'm good. Like I said: magic alien painkillers."

"That can't be healthy."

"Probably not." She sniffled, wiping at her tears. She cast another longing glance at her helmet. "I just need to get back to them. The sooner we're all together again, the sooner we can take down Zarkon." She paused, inhaling deeply. "And the sooner we can find Dad."

* * *

Back at her lion, Pidge lay atop Green's head, gazing up at the stars above, mentally tracing the unfamiliar constellations.

"Soon," she promised. "I'm getting you out of here, Matt."

* * *

AN:

A chapter where everything goes right for a change! Enjoy this light-hearted break from the stuff that's been happening (and will continue to happen)

Your comments have been making me so incredibly happy, you guys are great. (Why doesn't FFN have a reply function?)

I'm just so happy that people have been reading and enjoying my ramblings!

As always, you're welcome to come hang out with me on tumblr! My url is this-book-has-been-loved. Please feel free to scream at/with me, haha.

Stay tuned for next week: when shit gets real

Love you guys!

~ Brigit


	4. Icarus

Pidge awoke to a triumphant snarl from her lion.

 _It's working._

Pidge jumped to her feet, racing to the console. "Flight capabilities are back online?"

Green roared again, and the data readouts on the display screens confirmed what she was saying. They would be able to take off again.

"Yes!" the paladin exclaimed. "Finally!" She sat back in her chair, grabbing at her controls. "Alright, let's give this a test run," Pidge declared. "Ready to go?"

A second later, the Green Lion burst from hiding, racing across the terrain with ease. "Activate cloaking," Pidge commanded. "We don't want anyone seeing us."

The lion roared, and they bounded invisibly through the mountains.

"Feels like we've got a bit of a limp there," she muttered. "Another thing to take care of back at the castle." She sighed, pulling at the controls. "Okay, let's hit the skies!"

And the lion took off, blasting up from the ground towards the atmosphere.

Pidge cheered as they soared through the clouds, doing a few flips for good measure. "Now _that's_ what I'm talking about!"

She navigated back towards the mountain range, twisting and turning through the peaks, treating it like an obstacle course. Coming across a peak taller than the rest, she flew her lion vertically up the surface towards the summit. At the very top, she pulled away from the side of the mountain, letting her lion enter free-fall. She activated the thrusters at the last moment, righting the lion and gently lowering them back onto the ground.

"A little shaky," Pidge reported once they'd touched down. "But definitely operational. We can be off-planet and across the solar system in no time."

She sat back in her chair, grinning wildly. "I have to tell Matt," she murmured. "We're getting out of here _today_." She let out of whoop of excitement.

She paused as her lion rumbled, gently reminding her that weapons were still out-of-commission.

"Or, tonight," she corrected herself. "This is gonna have to be a sneak-attack stealth-mode escape," she mused. "Weapons are offline until we can get back to the castle for full repairs."

She would't be able to stage a full jailbreak; she didn't have the firepower for that. All she could do in her current situation was help Matt. But after she'd gotten back to the castle, after her weapons system was repaired, after she'd found the rest of her team…maybe she'd be able to come back to help everyone else.

But until then….

She sighed. "So, we've got a few hours to kill. Got anything else for me to fix?"

* * *

This time, she rode her podship straight to the edge of the compound. With a few taps at the holopad on her gauntlet, she disabled the security system. Another few buttons, and the gates in front of her opened up. She parked in the yard, by the still-open gates.

"Just get in, get Matt, and get out," she reminded herself in a whisper as she climbed out of the podship. "Nice and easy."

She made her way to prison block G, slipping inside and navigating through the maze of halls towards cell 13120.

All the lights were dimmed, and the halls were shrouded in shadow.

She stopped in front of the cell, her hand resting against the cool metal for a second. "This is it," she whispered. "This is really it."

The door to Matt's cell opened and Pidge burst in with a smile. "Guess what time it is!"

He looked up at her, amused. "Time for a visit from my favorite sister?"

"I'm your only sister, you dork," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "Also no. I mean, yes. But no. Any other guesses?"

"Just tell me."

She grinned wider. "It's escape time."

The amused smile dropped of his face and he sat up fully. "What? Like, right now?"

"That's right, brother dear," Pidge told him. "I finally got flight capabilities back on my lion, which means we can get off of this planet. We are go for lift-off." She held out her hand to him. "You coming?"

He stood up, taking her hand. "Absolutely."

"Alright." She led them outside the cell. "I'm busting you out of here, bro." And with that, the started down the dimly lit halls.

Matt walked with a slight limp, clearly favoring one leg over the other, and Pidge was reminded of what Shiro and Xi had told her. She frowned. Would the healing pods back at the castle be able to fix an older injury like that?

They walked in silence, their footfalls echoing around them.

Matt was on high-alert, his shoulders tense, his eyes darting around frantically, his hands twitching at every sound.

Pidge reached out, taking his hand again. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he breathed. "Just…anxious."

"Don't worry, Matt, this should be a breeze. I disabled all the security systems; we'll be met with literally zero opposition. All we need to do is get to my podship, and we'll be out of here."

He exhaled, and some of his tension melted away. "I know. It's just…nerve-wracking."

She gently squeezed his hand again. "I've got you."

Pidge opened the doors before them, and the hallway opened up into a much larger room.

They were only a few steps inside the room when the door slid shut behind them, and the room was flooded in purple lights.

They were met by the sounds of dozens of laser guns charging in unison. The room was full of sentries, all of them pointing their blasters towards Pidge and her brother. In the center of the room, standing directly opposite the two of them, was a Galra officer.

The warden.

He wasn't as solidly built as some that she'd dealt with before. He was shorter, pudgier, less muscular––looked like he hadn't been in any form of combat in years.

Which, she assumed, explained why he felt the need to surround himself with an entire platoon of sentries.

When he saw her, saw the insignia on her armor, his face broke into a grin. "Well, it seems we have a Voltron paladin in our midst."

Pidge settled into a fighting stance, summoning her inactive bayard.

"So you're the one who's been tampering with our security system," he sneered. "Unfortunately for you, our engineers were able to counteract your sabotage."

Pidge pursed her lips, annoyed. That was her fault, for messing with the system so many times over the past few days.

"Though I must say," the warden continued, "I wasn't expecting our infiltrator to be one of the Paladins of Voltron. This must be my lucky day."

Pidge scoffed. "Don't count on it."

Matt placed a hand on her shoulder. " _Katie_ ," he whispered urgently.

"It's fine," she assured him. "I've got this."

"It doesn't seem as though the rest of the paladins are here with you," the warden said, looking around searchingly in mock concern. "You're on your own here."

" _Please_." She rolled her eyes. "I've gone up against countless Galra ships. Against Commander Sendak. Singlehandedly, too, I might add. Hell, I've gone up against _Zarkon himself_." Sure, that last bit was stretching the truth a bit since she hadn't engaged Zarkon directly like Keith had; but the warden didn't need to know that. "This?" She smirked. "This is _nothing_." Again, stretching the truth. There were well over twenty sentries in this room, and she'd never had to deal with so many all at once before, not on her own. But she settled into the lie confidently. Making things up about herself wasn't a new feeling. "Nothing you can throw at me is gonna scare me."

The warden was noticeably sweating, but he puffed out his chest in mock confidence. "We'll see about that."

"I guess we will." Not taking her eyes off the warden, she dropped her voice to address her brother. "Matt," she hissed, "stay back and get down. I'll handle this."

He squeezed her shoulder, then let go, taking a step back. "Good luck."

She activated her bayard, and the glowing green arrow tip sparked to life. With a grin, she focused her attention back to the sentries surrounding her. "Come and get me!"

Pidge broke into a run, racing straight ahead. Behind her, Matt dropped to the floor.

She bypassed the sentries, sliding through their legs, slashing at them with her bayard as she raced past, keeping them focused on her. All the while, she kept her eyes locked on the warden.

She vaulted over the next sentry, firing her bayard in midair. The glowing green cord shot towards the warden, and he shouted as it wrapped around him, loosing an electric shock. She landed solidly on her feet, and with sharp a yank, she sent him falling to the floor. In an instant, she was standing beside him, one foot pressed firmly on his back. Pidge scooped up a blaster from a fallen sentry and aimed it at the back of his head.

Every functional sentry in the room was standing still, their blasters all focused on her.

She looked over them coldly, almost issuing a challenge. "Stand down. One false move and your warden gets it," she threatened.

From below her, the warden gulped audibly. "H-hold fire," he stammered. The sentries lowered their blasters.

Across the room, Matt was staring at her in openmouthed shock.

"Matt," she called calmly. "Head for the doors over on this end. They open directly to the yard; my pod is waiting there."

He glanced at the doorway she indicated, then at the sentries still surrounding them. "Yeah," he murmured, slowly rising to his feet.

As he neared the doors, she deactivated her bayard, releasing her hold on the warden. He gasped in relief, coughing; she kept the blaster pointed at him as she slowly backed towards the door where Matt waited. Using a hand from a fallen sentry, they opened the doors and stepped outside.

"Alright," Pidge murmured. "Made it past that." She glanced over at her brother. "You okay?"

He nodded breathlessly. "I should be asking you that," he said. "I mean…that was…wow."

"Like I mentioned: I've been training to deal with situations like these." She glanced around her, noting thankfully that the yard was devoid of sentries. And, by some miracle, her pod still hovered by the open gates. "This is it."

They were almost halfway across the yard when the shouts and blasts started back up again. More sentries were streaming out of the doorway of prison block G, followed by a flustered warden. "Don't let them get out of here! I need the paladin alive!"

Pidge cursed. "Well, it was nice while it lasted," she muttered, aiming her blaster. She pushed

Matt towards the open gates. "Go! I'll hold them off."

He hesitated, glancing from his sister to the soldiers to the podship. He sighed, resigned, taking a step towards the pod. "Be careful."

"I always am!"

"Katie, we both know that's a lie."

" _Go_ , Matt!"

While he made his way to the pod, she opened fire on the sentries. Not for the first time, she wished the rest of her team was there. She wasn't nearly as good a shot as Lance, and the Galra blaster she was using didn't have the range that Hunk's did.

Her lion was pacing anxiously in her mind, nearly as on edge as the paladin was.

As the sentries got closer, she dropped the gun to the floor and ran.

Matt had nearly made it to the pod, but his limp was slowing him down. She slowed her pace, not wanting to completely overtake him.

The pod started glowing as Green remotely activated it. It hovered, floating over towards its paladin.

Only a few yards from safety, Matt fell.

Pidge whirled around, staring in openmouthed horror at the scene before her. "Matt!"

Within moments, the sentries had swarmed him. Matt struggled against their grips, then stopped. He looked up at her frantically, meeting her eyes. "Go! I'll be fine!"

She shook her head, tears threatening to spill over, and drew her bayard, taking a step towards him. "I––"

"Just _go!_ "

The compound gates were starting to close. The sentries were advancing towards her, and she could feel her lion's worry, and quiet urging that she needed to _leave_. With one last stricken glance towards her brother, Pidge climbed into her podship. "I'll come back for you," she shouted. "I promise!"

The door closed, sealing her within the ship. Though he could no longer see her, Matt kept his eyes locked on the pod. He smiled faintly.

The Green Lion took control of the pod, setting it on autopilot, letting it carry her paladin back.

* * *

 **AN** :

And that's a wrap on Part I!

I think we all knew that this fic couldn't be all happy-go-lucky the _whole_ time. We're not even halfway done! Can't let things get resolved too quickly. ;)

We'll be meeting up the rest of the team in the next chapter! I'm super excited to get the squad all together. I love them all so much.

As always, thank you so much for reading! Your comments absolutely make my day! ^_^

Can't wait for you guys to see what all I have in store for the upcoming chapters.

~Brigit


	5. Shelter

**Part II: Eclipse**  
 **Chapter 5: Shelter**

* * *

She was alone again.

The podship had carried her back to the Green Lion. It wouldn't stray from its path, and Green had refused to relinquish control, no matter how hard her paladin had screamed and cried.

Pidge had wanted to wreak havoc upon the prison camp; bust in there, guns blazing, unleash hell, and _get her brother back_.

But with the weapons system––and who knew what else––still damaged, there wasn't really much she _could_ do. With the thrusters repaired, she could take flight again; but the fighting mechanisms were beyond her.

So she did what she could do––what Matt had told her to do––what Green was urging her to do, tinged with apology––and left.

And now she found herself lost in space, on her own…again.

Green did most of the driving. She operated herself, drifting aimlessly through the starscape surrounding them, while Pidge sat mostly-unresponsive in her chair at the cockpit.

Dried tears traced lines through the dust on her face.

She'd run out of tears a couple hours ago. The logical side of her, the side that listened to her head rather than to heart, had taken over at that point, focusing on coming up with a plan.

To find the rest of her team.

To rest and heal.

To _save her family._

"Get back to the castle," she reminded herself. "Find everyone else. Don't…don't think about––" She broke off, taking a shaky breath, focusing her thoughts. "Just find a way to contact the castle."

Before too much longer, she found herself floating aimlessly through a field of debris. "What…?" she breathed, staring out the window. "It's like…a trash nebula of some kind." She frowned, glancing at the scrap metal that surrounded her. "Let's stop here, girl," she said, patting the console gently. "I'll see what I can do with this."

* * *

She poured herself into the work, letting it distract her, taking her mind off the loss she'd suffered on Serva.

Keeping busy was good. She'd always liked working like this: focusing entirely on a problem and trying to find a way to fix it, whether the problem was mechanical or more coding-related. She used it as a coping mechanism, letting it consume her.

In a jump from one trash pile to another, her foot caught on a cable, sending her reeling forward, tumbling head over heels. She cried out, crashing into a pile of junk. The wind was knocked out of her, and she coughed for a moment, inspecting the trash heap she'd hit.

She frowned, looking at the large metal disc. "It's…an old, rusty satellite." Her eyes widened, and she gasped. "Maybe I can find the castle before they find me."

Within a few hours, she'd rigged up the satellite dish to her lion, connecting it all together with an extensive tower of scrap metal. She gently lowered the satellite onto the top of the tower, fitting it into place.

Using her jetpack, she flew down to the base of the tower and opened the control panel.

"That ought to do it," she said to herself, plugging in one last wire. She floated back, admiring her handiwork, as the tower began to light up. "Now, let's see if we can get a hold of the castle."

The tower started glowing blue, segment by segment. The spire of the dish started to glow, then sputtered out.

"No, no! What's wrong?" Pidge shouted, staring agape at her tower as all the lights powered down. "I need to get out of here! I need to find my friends! Come _on_!"

With a roar from the lion, power raced up the tower, stimulating the satellite on top. A spire of energy shot forth, blasting off into space, projecting her signal outwards.

Pidge smiled. "Thanks," she told Green. "Now, let's see if this thing works." She climbed inside the lion from the hatch on the top of the head, settling into her seat and pulling up the communications display. "I hope the signal's strong enough to reach the castle."

The words had scarcely left her mouth before a magimechanical whirr sounded behind her. She spun around, turning her lion to face the massive blue wormhole that had appeared. A faint smile spread across her lips as the castle emerged into view. "Right on time."

* * *

"PIDGE!"

She had scarcely stepped out of her lion before she was bowled over by a flying hug. Her helmet fell from her hands and clattered to the floor. " _Agh_ ––Lance?"

The blue paladin in question only squeezed her tighter. "The one and only!"

"Lance, I can't breathe."

"Shhh, just let the hug happen."

Her vision was, for the most part, obscured by Lance, but she could make out other figures in the room: Hunk, Keith, Allura, Coran.

Hunk reached out to embrace both of them, lifting them off their feet in a bone-crushing hug. "Oh my gosh, Pidge, it's so good to see you!"

She tensed, suddenly reminded of her injured ribs. The Altean painkillers were keeping the pain at bay for now, but she knew they weren't really helping the healing process. "Agh, watch it, Hunk, you're gonna crush me!"

He loosened his grip. "Sorry, Pidge. I'm just…really happy."

She relaxed, a grin starting to spread across her face. "I know. I missed you guys too."

Lance cheered, elated. "Got the team back together again!"

Pidge's smile fell. "Yeah."

Hunk released them, setting them both back down so that the rest of the team could greet their missing paladin.

Keith clapped her on the shoulder, pulling her into a quick hug. "Good to have you back, Pidge."

"Thanks, Keith."

Coran placed a hand on her back, smiling down at her. "Good to see you, Number Five. I'm glad you're safe. Now, I'd like to take a diagnostic scan of the lion, if that's alright," he told her. "See what remaining damage there is for us to tackle."

Allura wrapped her in a gentle embrace. "I'm glad we found you," she said. Her face broke into a mischievous smile, and she ruffled Pidge's hair. "It'll be nice having another girl around again."

Pidge chuckled. "It's good to see all of you," she said. She glanced around the hangar. "Where's Shiro?"

"Healing pod," Keith replied. "Haggar hit him pretty bad in that last fight, back at Zarkon's central command."

"Hunk and I got picked up a couple days ago," Lance added. "And we only just found Keith and Shiro yesterday."

"But now that you're back," Hunk continued, "that's everyone!"

She didn't say anything right away, rubbing nervously at her arm. _Everyone_. "That's great."

"Scans complete," Coran announced.

"Good," Pidge said. "Let's see what's left to take care of."

"Well," Hunk said, taking a step towards the door, "while you guys do that, I'm gonna head back upstairs. Pidge, I'll check in on you in a bit, bring some snacks or something."

"Mm-hmm." She barely heard him, focusing in on the data Coran was looking through.

Hunk headed out of the room, followed by Keith and Allura. Lance dawdled a bit longer, his gaze lingering curiously on the diagnostic readouts.

"Scans are showing that there are some damages to the Green Lion," Coran reported. "Though not as bad as I would expect! For the most part, she seems to be in good shape."

"I spent a lot of time fixing her up," Pidge replied with a shrug. "I did what I could. But weapons system is still offline. And her external armor is a bit banged up."

"Wait," Lance interjected. "You were stuck out there on your own for _days_ –– _without weapons?_ " He stressed those last two words emphatically. "Pidge! Are you okay?!"

She shrugged listlessly. "I'm fine."

His brow furrowed, and he exchanged quick glances with Coran.

"The lions are predominantly self-healing," Coran continued. "But sometimes they do get a bit too banged up to do everything on their own. Why don't you go get out of uniform and wash yourself up while I stay down here in the hangar to get a closer look at Green?"

Pidge nodded. "Okay. Should I meet you back down here? I'd like to get Green repaired as soon as possible."

Lance shook his head emphatically. "No can do, Pidgeroo. We're going to have a celebratory lunch courtesy of the great Chef Hunk; and as you're the guest of honor, you're gonna need to be there."

"We can meet back in the dining room for lunch," Coran agreed. "We can fill you in on everything that's happened these past few quintants."

* * *

It wasn't until she was carefully stripping off her armor that the pain returned.

Stretching up her arms to remove her breastplate––and a sudden stabbing shot at her torso. She cried out, clutching at her chest. "Ugh," she groaned. "Of course the painkillers _had_ to wear off now."

There was a knocking at her door. "Pidge? Are you okay?"

She sighed. And of course Hunk would hear and come by to check on her. "Fine," she muttered.

A pause. "Are you sure?" Hunk tried. "I thought I heard you yell. Can I come in?"

Pidge groaned, sitting down on her bed. No getting rid of him. "Yeah."

The door slid open and Hunk walked in, taking in the sullen figure before him. One of those floating plates hovered beside him, loaded with food goo. Hunk frowned. "What's wrong?"

Pidge massaged her chest, inhaling sharply. "I…my crash landing may have been a bit worse than I let on," she mumbled. "It's fine," she hastened to assure him, "just…hurt a few ribs or something. I don't know. I haven't had the chance to really take a look at it."

Hunk had gone pale, staring at her in shock. "Pidge!" he shouted, aghast. "We need to get you to the medbay."

"I––," she started to protest, but another painful jab from her ribs gave her pause. She sighed, relenting. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

She stood gingerly, and Hunk was there to guide her. He slung her arm around her shoulders, his other arm wrapping around her waist. He helped her out into the hall, supporting her weight.

They had only made it a few yards down the hall when her ankle started to throb. Her step faltered, and Hunk stopped. "Pidge, you're limping."

"I can still _walk_ , Hunk."

"Nope, I am drawing the line here."

Pidge found herself lifted off the ground as Hunk gently carried her bridal-style. "Hunk!"

"Pidge." His tone made it clear that he wasn't going to argue with her on this. "Please?"

She deflated. "Fine." She shifted in his arms, resting her head against his chest. "Thank you."

Lance ran into them on the way there. He skidded to a halt, quirking up an eyebrow as he took in the situation. "Everything okay?"

"She's gonna need a healing pod. Do you know where Coran is?"

Lance nodded. "Yeah, down in the hangar. I'll get him. And everyone else." And with that, he went dashing through the castle.

The medbay doors opened with a hiss, and Hunk carried Pidge inside.

"You don't need to make a big deal of this," Pidge mumbled as Hunk set her down on an exam table. "I'm okay."

"Pidge, you could barely walk."

"Okay, now you're just exaggerating."

The door slid open, and Lance raced in, Coran on his heels. "Keith and Allura are on their way," he said as Coran set to work on the scanner.

Pidge barely suppressed her groan. "It's not _that_ serious," she protested.

"Yeah, I beg to differ," Hunk replied. "Here, just…let us help you with your armor."

He and Lance very carefully helped her out of the rest of her armor, gently removing the gauntlets, the belt, the boots, until she was left only wearing the black bodysuit.

Keith and Allura came in later, one after the other, asking what they could do to help. Pidge felt overly-conscious with everyone else staring at her, so obviously worried.

Coran and Allura activated the medscan, and it parsed over her, assessing her injuries.

"Well," Coran said hesitantly, looking over the readouts. "You certainly got pretty banged up."

"Just hit me with it, Coran."

"Ah, well, starting with the ribs then…." With a swipe of his hand, the scan results were projected up onto the larger screen, where they could all see. "One of your ribs appears to be fractured, and three others are badly bruised." He pulled up another window. "Also, you've sprained one of your ankles." Another window. "And it looks like there's severe bruising across your torso." Another one. "And your legs." And another. "And your arms." And another. "Ah, pretty much everywhere, I guess."

Lance's eyes were nearly bugging out of his head. "And you were just going to _keep this from us?_ "

Pidge smiled sheepishly. "If I'm being honest, it actually kinda slipped my mind entirely."

"It––you––," Lance sputtered. "Pidge!"

She winced. "Sorry."

Keith raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You _forgot_ that you broke a rib?"

She shrugged. "There were painkillers in a first aid kit I found in my lion. I was fine." She looked down, staring at the floor. "Couldn't feel a thing."

Allura sighed. "I'm glad we found you when we did," she said, looking over the scan data. "If this had continued to progress, you could be in much worse condition."

Coran pulled out one of the white bodysuits and passed it to her before he and the rest of them left her alone to change. Allura had offered to stay and help, but Pidge refused. She wasn't _that_ helpless. Even so, it took longer than she would have liked for her to replace the black bodysuit with the white one.

"It should only take a few vargas for you to fully heal," Coran assured her as he and Lance helped hobble towards the cryo-pod waiting for her.

"And we'll be here waiting when you wake up," Lance added.

She smiled, stepping into the healing pod beside Shiro's. "Thanks, guys. You're the best."

* * *

The command bridge of the Galra ship was shrouded in purple.

The comms screen flickered to life.

"Commander Reggar," Zarkon intoned.

"Yes, your majesty."

"I'm assigning you a very important mission," the Emperor said, staring at the bowed form of the commander. "There's been a disturbance in your sector. I need you to get to the bottom of it. Prison base Theta-twelve on planet Serva found itself under direct attack. Voltron is rumored to be involved." Zarkon paused, as if waiting for a reaction from his subordinate, then continued. "I'm putting you in full charge of this investigation."

"Vrepit sa, sir."

* * *

 **AN:**

WELL HEY THERE GUYS

We have now entered Part 2 of this adventure of a fic! I started posting this like a month ago, isn't that crazy? Then again, it probably just seems longer for me since I started writing this thing back in January.

Anyways

So excited to get to write the rest of the team! Aaaaaaah  
[Can you tell I love Lance]

As always, thank you all so much for reading! Your comments absolutely make my day (especially the ones I got on the last chapter, haha ;D ).

You are more than welcome to come hang out with / scream with / scream at me on tumblr! My url is this-book-has-been-loved, and there's a link in my bio

Love you all!

~Brigit


	6. Home

**Chapter 6: Home**

As promised, the rest of the team was waiting for her. When Pidge exited her healing pod, it was into the waiting arms of Shiro.

"It's good to see you, Pidge," he said, hugging her tight. "How are you feeling?"

She clung to him. "Better." She pulled away, searching his face. "What about you? When did you wake up?"

"Not too long ago," he replied, his voice a bit strained.

"Well, now that you're both awake," Lance interjected, coming in between them and throwing an arm around each of their shoulders, "we can get this party started."

Allura smiled gently. "I wouldn't say _party_ is quite the right word for it."

Lance rolled his eyes. "What _ev_ er."

Shiro carefully extracted himself from Lance's grasp. "Sounds great, Lance."

The Blue Paladin cheered, pulling Pidge in closer. "Come on, we can fill you and Shiro in on all our fabulous adventures."

"But first," Allura insisted. "I think getting something to eat is in order."

"Yeah, I'll go take care of that," Hunk told them. "I'll be in the kitchen, whipping up some dinner. Meet me in the dining room in, like, an hour or something." He reached over and ruffled Pidge's hair on his way out.

"You're the best, Hunk," Lance called after him.

"So," Pidge began, and all the focus suddenly snapped back to her. "How long was I out?"

Keith shrugged. "Three, four hours? Not too long."

Pidge nodded, readjusting her internal clock. It'd been nearly twenty hours––vargas––since she'd left Serva. "Miss anything exciting since then?"

She saw Shiro and Keith exchange a quick glance. "We can discuss all that later," Shiro assured her, turning to meet her gaze.

"Good news is," Coran burst in excitedly, "repairs on your lion are coming along swimmingly! You did a good job repairing her in the field; there's really not too much more for me to do. She should be fully healed within the next quintant."

Another day or two, then. Not too long, but longer than she would've liked.

 _Just wait it out_ , she reminded herself. _Once she's up and running again, you'll be able to go help Matt._

"That's great," she said, smiling. "Thanks, Coran."

The conversation drifted, and Pidge started to tune it out. Despite her not being the focus of the conversation, she didn't miss the glances they kept shooting her: cautious, gentle, full of concern. She squirmed, anxious to get away from their worrying looks.

"I'm gonna go take a shower and get dressed," she told them, accidentally interrupting Coran in his rambles about repairing the lions. She pulled away from Lance's half-hug. "It's been a long week."

Allura smiled at her. "Yes, of course. We'll see you at dinner, then."

"Yeah. See you in a bit."

She took off.

* * *

Back in her room, she took off the white bodysuit. Looking down at herself, she saw that all the bruising had disappeared. There wasn't a single mark left to show of the ordeal she'd been through.

 _Like it never happened._

She showered, letting the warm water wash away the days of dirt and painful memories that plagued her.

She changed into her clothes solemnly. After a few days in her suit, it felt odd to be back in her loose-fitting comfy earth clothes. She glanced at her desk where her glasses––no, _Matt's_ glasses––rested. After a short internal debate, she picked them up. She carried them in her hands as she exited her room.

"Hey, Pidge."

She turned down the hall to see Keith just coming out of his own room. "Hi, Keith."

They walked towards the dining room together in companionable silence. If he noticed that she wasn't wearing her glasses, that she was acting a bit differently than usual, he didn't let on.

"Shiro woke up only about an hour before you," Keith told her after a minute. "He had a dream or something while he was in the pod––some memories on how he escaped. Anyways, he apparently has some coordinates encoded in his arm. We were hoping you'd be able to figure that out."

"Yeah," she answered mechanically. "I can take a look at that."

He paused, looking at her curiously. "Are you okay?"

She didn't answer.

His brow furrowed. "Pidge?"

"I'm fine," she replied. "Just…tired."

He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. Whatever happened, whatever you went through when we were separated––it's over now."

She clenched her fists. _Not if I can help it_. "I know."

* * *

"Coran and I were stuck in some sort of time loop," the princess was saying. Coran had decided to pass on dinner and instead head back down to the lions' bays to continue repairs. "But Hunk and Lance were able to broadcast a strong enough signal to us to get us out."

Hunk nodded sagely. "It was easy. The mermaid queen had a giant clam that acted as a communications device," he explained

Shiro held up a hand. "I'm sorry, did you say _mermaid queen?_ "

"Aw, man, you guys should have seen it!" Lance blurted. "An _underwater_ planet!"

"It was pretty freaking cool," Hunk agreed. "Who would've thought. Mermaids are real and they live in space."

"We totally saved the whole planet. We had to overthrow a crazy powerful mind-controlling dictator. But it turned out _she_ was being mind-controlled by this giant serpent thing," Lance regaled. "So then we took on the serpent––"

"Which was _terrifying_."

"Dude, I think you mean _awesome_!" Lance exclaimed. "And there was this group of rebels who were able to, like, counteract the crazy mind-control––"

"Lance wore a jellyfish on his head."

"Hell yeah, I did. I named him Tentacool."

Allura sighed, shaking her head. "I'm not even going to ask."

Lance rolled his eyes. " _Anyways_ , they were so thankful to us for saving them, that they threw a huge celebration in our honor––"

"I wouldn't say it was _huge_ ," Hunk tried.

" _And_ ," Lance preened, "I got kissed by a mermaid."

"I'm having a hard time believing that."

"Shut up, Keith! It totally happened."

"Yep. I was there."

"See? Hunk vouches for me!"

Keith rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Pidge sat there listlessly, absently poking at the food goo with her spoon. She still wasn't wearing her glasses–– _Matt's_ glasses. Instead, they rested on the table by her plate.

She barely listened to the conversation, as Keith went on about giant space lizard things, and something about piloting the Black Lion. All of it just faded away to background noise as she sat there and stared at nothing.

"What about you, Pidge?" Hunk asked, startling her out of her reverie as he turned towards her. "What did you get up to?"

"Yeah!" Lance agreed. "You've been weirdly quiet. Tell us of the adventures of the Great and Almighty Pidge!"

Her spoon stilled. For a moment, the only sound was the low hum of the engines; then she took a shuddering breath, and in a shaky voice, murmured, "I saw my brother."

A hush fell over the room.

After a long moment, she heard Shiro's voice. "Matt?"

Pidge nodded.

She didn't look at any of them, refused to meet their questioning gazes, their sympathetic looks. Instead, her eyes stayed locked on the glasses.

Eventually, Allura spoke. "What happened?"

Pidge's breath caught. "I––"

An arm wrapped around her––Hunk––and she stiffened instinctively before relaxing into his embrace. "It's okay," he whispered. "Let it out."

And with that, her resolve crumbled.

"I was _so close_ ," she gasped, tears falling freely. "He was _right there_ , but I couldn't save him."

Hunk tightened his hold on her, rocking her gently. Someone else––Lance?––had come around to her other side and was gently rubbing circles on her back, whispering words of comfort.

She hiccupped and sobbed into Hunk's shirt, harder than she'd cried in a long while.

She pulled away as the tears dried up, leaving her still gasping for air. "I––he––" Her breathing was shallow, erratic, and she couldn't get her heartbeat to slow.

Shiro had come around the table to face her. He put his hands on her shoulders, crouching down so they were at eye-level. "Pidge," he said gently. " _Katie_."

A sharp intake of breath, and she looked up to meet his eyes.

"Deep breaths," he reminded her. "Take it easy. In…then out…. That's it…."

She breathed in time with his words, until she'd calmed herself down enough to talk. "Okay. I'm okay."

A small smile tugged at his face. "Keep telling yourself that."

She let out a dry laugh, rubbing at her eyes.

It was Keith who finally stated what they'd all been thinking. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

She shrugged. "I…don't know. Didn't know how to bring it up, I guess."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Hunk asked.

She froze. "I––" Her voice broke.

"Please? Let us help."

And just like that, the story came spilling out. The crash-landing on Serva, finding the prison camp, _finding Matt_ , all culminating in the escape attempt and her having to leave her brother behind. On and on, she rambled through her tears. "Eventually, I made it to that…wherever the hell that was where you picked me up," she finished. "I just…I was _so close_ …."

When she finished, there was silence.

Hunk hadn't let go of her throughout her rambling explanation, and now he only held her tighter.

"Oh, Pigeon," Lance murmured, leaning in to hug her from the other side. "I'm so sorry."

"We'll find him," Hunk added. "Promise."

Sandwiched between the two of them, she started to feel a bit better. She sniffled. "Thanks, guys."

Keith's arms were crossed as he sat glaring at the table. "Well, we know now what our next course of action is."

"Absolutely," Shiro agreed. "We go to Serva, and we find Matt."

* * *

"What? The Green Paladin was _there_?"

"Yes, sir."

"And?! What happened?!"

Nerok, the warden of Serva prison base Theta-twelve, swallowed nervously before stating hesitantly, "Unfortunately…they managed to escape. But," he was quick to interject, "we did manage to capture their accomplice!"

Commander Reggar paused. "Accomplice?"

"Yes, sir. The Green Paladin was attempting to escape alongside one of the prisoners here. We've yet to determine their connection––"

"That's no matter. Which prisoner?"

"Ah, number one-one-seven-dash-nine-eight-seven-six, sir," Nerok reported, consulting his notes.

The Commander frowned, glancing to a screen on his left as an image of the prisoner in question appeared on it. What would a paladin of Voltron have wanted with this specific prisoner?

When Reggar didn't say anything, Nerok continued. "As of yet, we do not know what the exact relationship is between the two. But they certainly seem to know each other, based on what they said. We, ah, also have a video from our security feed."

Reggar's eyes flickered back to the comm screen. "Show me."

"Yes, sir."

The feed of Nerok was replaced by a grainy video recording.

Two figures—the paladin and the prisoner—were running from the edge of the compound towards a small podship.

The paladin turned, shouting something, possibly a name: " _Matt!_ "

The prisoner struggled against the bond of his captors. " _Go!_ " he yelled to the paladin. " _I'll be fine!_ "

The paladin seemed conflicted, drawing their bayard, settling into a fighting stance.

" _Just GO!_ " the prisoner repeated.

The paladin took a hesitant step, then climbed inside the podship. " _I'll come back for you!_ " they said. " _I promise!_ "

With that, the podship took off, and the video ended.

Reggar sneered as the feed returned to show Nerok. "The paladin said they'd be back," Reggar noted. "Make sure you're ready for their return."

"Yes, sir. Vrepit sa!"

And with that, the comm ended.

The Commander directed his attention back to the other screen, where the information on Prisoner 117-9876 flickered steadily.

"Lieutenant Blazak!" he shouted, turning towards the other officer in the room. "Bring me all the information you can find on this prisoner. Where he's from, how he was captured, who he was captured with, how long he's been here. No matter how inconsequential. I want _everything_."

* * *

 **AN:**

Things are heating up! :D

Fun fact: this was actually the first chapter I really planned out! In fact, the very first scene I wrote of this whole fic was the part at dinner where Pidge tells the rest of the team what happened.  
Another fun fact: the names I chose for the Galra characters are names from the original 80s Voltron.

This chapter just makes me happy. I just love all the paladins so much and I love the way they interact with each other.

I am eternally bitter that there's no way to reply to comments on FFN . But I assure you, i read them all right away! You guys absolutely make my day! 3

As always, you're more than welcome to come scream at/with me on tumblr! My url is this-book-has-been-loved, and there's a link in my bio.

Next chapter: prison break!  
I'm excited. Are you excited? I'm excited. ;D

~ Brigit


	7. Imperium

**Chapter 7: Imperium**

* * *

This was it.

Much to Pidge's chagrin, it had taken a few quintants before they were ready to go; their lions still needed to finish their repairs. So they'd spent time planning, meticulously plotting out every second of their mission, from the instant they wormholed within range, to when they blasted off to safety.

And now, it was finally happening.

All five paladins were in the cockpits of their lions, waiting in their bays, for the command to launch.

Allura's voice sounded over the comms. "Paladins, are you all ready?"

"On your mark, Princess," Shiro replied.

"Opening wormhole."

And they were off.

From her position inside the Green Lion, Pidge couldn't see what was happening outside the castle. But she felt the change in velocity as they rocketed through the wormhole, before slowing to a stop as they were spat out the other end.

"Launch!"

At Allura's command, the paladins shot off into space.

Pidge could see the planet hanging in front of them: a mass of swirling browns and greens and golds. She took a deep breath, drinking in the sight of the planet. "Here we go," she whispered.

She hadn't meant for anyone to hear, but Shiro still responded. "We'll find him, Katie," he told her. "It'll be fine."

She nodded, more to herself than to Shiro. "I know."

Green was purring, sending her paladin waves of comfort and assurance. Pidge relaxed, taking in the moment, feeling the confidence and compassion of her teammates through their paladin bond.

"Hey, guys?" she started. "I…I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your doing this for me. You've been so supportive, and…. It really means a lot to me. You guys are the best friends I could have asked for. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Aww, Pidge." Hunk sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

"I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Lance commented, and she heard a smile in his voice.

She laughed dryly. "Don't get used to it, McClain."

"We've got your back, Pidge," Keith told her.

She smiled, reveling in the warm thoughts from both her lion and her fellow paladins. She wiped at her eyes. "Thanks, guys. You're the best."

* * *

It wasn't too much longer before they entered atmosphere. And once they were on planet, it was a straight shot past the mountains to get to the prison camp.

"Alright, there it is," Shiro announced. "Let's go!"

Scarcely had the words left his mouth when a swarm of Galra fighter ships took liftoff from the compound's hangar, heading towards the lions, guns at the ready.

"Dodge!"

Pidge jerked her controls to the side, sending her lion spiraling out of the line of fire. "I think they've noticed us."

"Well, there goes our surprise attack," Keith muttered, shooting at the Galra fighters.

"Alright, we're switching things up a bit. Keith, Lance: keep those aerial fighters busy," Shiro ordered. "The rest of us are going in for landing. We're gonna need cover."

"Copy that!" Keith called, firing at the fighters.

"Pidge, Hunk," Shiro continued, "follow me."

The three of them ducked closer to the planet, zooming towards the prison camp. "They have watchtowers along the perimeter," Pidge reported, focusing in on the closest one. "We're gonna have to take them down if we don't want them firing at us."

"Alright, let's move in."

They circled the compound, shooting at each watchtower one by one.

"Looks like they're clearing the yard," Hunk relayed.

Pidge looked towards the yard, watching as the sentries herded the prisoners back inside the cell blocks. "Makes our job easier," she replied. She shot down the last watchtower, one by the front gates. "Perimeter's down," she announced, landing her lion beside it. "Let's head in."

From behind her, Shiro flew over the compound and touched down just outside the perimeter wall, to Pidge's left. Hunk landed on the opposite end, giving a semblance of surrounding the prison.

They didn't even bother for any pretense of subtlety. They moved in on foot, standing in front of the gates, and Hunk simply blasted them open—and they were in.

Pidge and Shiro put their shields up, each standing a half step in front of Hunk to cover him as he fired his blaster at the sentries.

"Jeez," Pidge muttered as she deflected their blows. "These guys have worse aim than Storm Troopers."

Hunk laughed.

When resistance in the yard thinned out, they started to move deeper into the camp. "Hunk, start getting the prisoners out of here," Shiro said. "Start with block A and work your way through. Pidge and I will hit the central hub and take out the warden."

"You got it," Hunk replied, skirting towards the buildings along the edges of the compound. "Oh!" he called back, his voice echoing over the comm link. "Pidge! Which one is he in?"

"Block G," Pidge recited. "Cell one-three-one-two-oh."

"On it."

"Start with block A," she reminded him. "It's the closest."

It wasn't hard for her and Shiro to finish cleaning out the yard. And once all the sentries there were down, it was time to move into the command hub.

She could hear everyone's voices over the comms: Hunk explaining calmly to the prisoners, Lance and Keith cheering as they took down the aerial fighters, Allura and Coran back in the castle.

Everything was going according to plan.

The doors to the central command center were shut tight.

"You know," Pidge commented, "as much as I love the surprise sneak attack strategies, the breaking-and-blasting method is a lot of fun."

Shiro chuckled, holding his prosthetic arm up to the scanner. "Glad you're enjoying this."

The door opened, and they were instantly being fired at. Pidge ducked behind her shield. Through the translucent blue projection, she could see the squadrons of sentries lined up before them like a phalanx, firing mercilessly. Behind them, cowering by his desk, was the warden. Shiro closed the doors behind them, sealing them inside with the sentries. "Skirt around the edges," he commanded. "And be careful!" With that, he took off to the left.

Pidge took the right flank, keeping her shield up as she charged towards the robots.

She danced past them, slashing and stabbing with her bayard, shooting out the cord to entangle or trip them, shocking them to fry their hardware. Across the room, Shiro's arm glowed a blinding purple.

When the last sentry fell, Pidge turned to the warden and smiled. "Remember me?"

He was noticeably sweating, looking around frantically, trying to plan an escape. Desperately, he looked towards the main doors, still sealed shut. He started to run.

"Oh, no, you don't," Pidge snarled, firing her bayard. Like the last time she'd confronted him, the cord wrapped around him, coursing with electricity, sending him crashing to the ground as he cried out in pain.

This time, the shock was enough to knock him unconscious, and he collapsed.

Pidge grinned, standing up straight and deactivating her bayard. "Warden down," she told the team.

"Great work, Pidge," Allura told her. "We're coming in for landing. Keith, Lance, what's the status on those fighters?"

"Just about done, Princess," Keith replied.

"We've got this covered," Lance added.

Shiro came up behind Pidge, a few sets of electric restraints held in his hands. "In case he wakes up," he explained, gesturing towards the form of the warden, passed out on the cold floor. They used one pair to secure his hands behind his back, and clipped another around his ankles.

"We have control over the base," Shiro announced triumphantly.

"And that's the last of the fighters!" Lance whooped. "Princess, we're right behind you."

Pidge stood still, breathing deeply as she came down from the adrenaline rush. Shiro reopened the door to the yard, and she turned to look out.

Outside the compound, the castle was coming in for a landing, followed closely by Keith and Lance.

"This was…way easier than I thought it would be," Keith commented as they touched down.

"Yeah," Lance agreed. "Didn't even need to form Voltron."

"You guys head to the yard," Shiro told them. He glanced over at Pidge and nodded towards the command console. "Whenever you're ready."

She breathed in deeply, and turned on the announcement system.

She tapped the microphone. "Attention prisoners," she said. "This is a paladin of Voltron speaking. As some of you may already know, we're here to set you all free." She paused, giving time for her words to sink in. "We've taken out the warden," she continued triumphantly. "This is our planet now." She keyed in a few commands on the console, letting every single cell door open. "My friends will be waiting in the yard, administering first aid and helping anyone in need of assistance. Our goal is to get each and every one of you to safety." She smiled. "May you all be able to return home, and be reunited with those you care about."

She turned to look through the open door, watching as hundreds of prisoners streamed out of the buildings, congregating in the yard. Allura, Lance, and Keith were all standing there, already starting to speak with the prisoners. Hunk was still making the rounds through each prison block, checking for stragglers or those who couldn't move.

This was actually working.

 _This had actually worked._

She'd done it, she'd found her brother. And now, all that was left was to track down their dad—

Hunk's voice crackled over the comms. "Pidge?"

"Hunk? What's up?"

"You said it was cell one-three-one-two-oh, right?"

"Yeah," she replied, a sinking feeling starting deep in her chest. "Block G. G one-three-one-two-oh."

There was a pause, and Pidge felt tight with anxiety. After a second, Hunk spoke. "It's empty."

The world dropped out from beneath her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the cell is empty," he repeated. "There's no one here."

She was frozen in place. "That…that can't be right," she said. "He was here. He has to be here!"

"Pidge, I'm sorry. I…I don't think he's here anymore."

"No," she murmured. "No, no! He has to be here!"

Shiro put a hand on her shoulder, startling her out of her frantic tunnel-vision. "Let's check around outside," he suggested, but she didn't miss how his features had tightened. "He may already be out in the yard."

Her heart had started to pound. But she followed Shiro outside into the writhing chaos.

She scanned the yard frantically. Aliens of all different shapes and sizes and colors and species were crowded there, blurring together. The retinal displays in her visor were starting to crowd her vision, and in a fit of frustration, she pulled off her helmet. She cast her gaze about desperately, trying to pick out his familiar mop of caramel-colored hair.

Nothing.

"No, no, _where is he?_ "

Shiro was tense, and she saw his shoulders start to sag. "I'm sorry, Katie—"

"You are searching for the human?"

Pidge turned, meeting eyes with the diminutive figure who had spoken. The alien's skin was a dark brown, and their forearms were covered in layers of deep red feathers. The alien tilted their head, blinking their startling blue catlike eyes as they met Pidge's gaze. "He looked like you," the alien continued, softly.

"He's my brother," Pidge replied, trying not to dwell on the use of past-tense. "Do you know where he is?"

The alien shook their head. "He is not here. They took him away several quintants ago, transferred him to somewhere else."

The world was spinning. "He's…gone?"

"I am sorry, Paladin." The alien inclined their head, their eyes downcast.

Pidge was shaking. "No…."

Shiro reached out towards her. "Pidge—"

She pulled away from him, taking a few steps backwards. She clenched her fists. "I'm checking the prison records," she announced, firmly replacing her helmet onto her head. She stalked back inside the command center and marched towards the console. She opened the main display, patching into the system. "Coran, are you still in the castle?"

"Ah, yes, Number Five."

"I'm transmitting all this to you. All their data. Run it through my decryption and translation program." With that, she started the upload process. "It _has_ to be in here. It _has_ to say what happened to him."

"I'm receiving your signal," Coran told her.

"And?"

There was a long silence, broken only by the whirr of the machines and the tapping of his fingers against the castle's console.

At long last, he sighed. "I'm afraid he's not here, Pidge. The records say he was transferred somewhere else, just a couple quintants ago."

"Where? Where was he transferred to?"

"Doesn't say."

She didn't want to listen to this anymore. With a frustrated scream, she pulled her helmet back off and threw it across the room in a fit of anger. It clattered to the floor, the sound echoing through the room.

There were footsteps coming from behind her, and Lance appeared by her side. "Are you okay, Pidge?"

She didn't look at him, keeping her eyes locked on the display screen before her. "This is all my fault."

"Pidge, that's not—"

"It _is_ ," she insisted. "He was _here_. He was here and he was okay. If I hadn't gotten involved…." Her voice trailed off.

"Well, what else were you supposed to do?" Lance's voice was soft. "Ignore him? Act like you'd never seen him?"

Frustrated, she ran a hand through her hair. "I—I don't—"

"You did the right thing, Pidge. This isn't your fault."

She clenched her fists, pressing them against her eyes. "It sure feels like it is."

"If you're looking for the one you were with before," a new voice from behind her intoned, "he's not here."

Pidge whirled around, looking over at the warden.

He was still lying on the ground, his arms and legs still bound—but he had woken up. He was watching her curiously, taking in her appearance, and Pidge realized that this was the first time he'd seen her without her helmet on.

She marched towards him. She grabbed the front of his armor, pulling him off the ground so that they were face-to-face. "Where is he?" she hissed. "What did you do to him?"

"We knew you'd be coming back." He was terrified—that much was clear from his body language. But he was trying his damnedest to cover it up. "So we made the appropriate preparations."

" _What did you do to him?!_ "

"Just didn't realize you'd be bringing the rest of Voltron with you."

"Ugh!" She threw him back to the ground. "Tell me!"

Lance reached towards her hesitantly. "Pidge—"

"Stay out of this, Lance," she snapped. "This is _my_ brother at stake here. This is _my_ fight."

He put up his hands placatingly. "I know," he assured her. "I just…want to make sure you don't do anything you might regret."

She turned away from him, grabbing a blaster from a fallen sentry. "I think it might be a bit too late for that," she muttered, leveling the muzzle at the warden. "Now _tell_ me. _Where. Is. He?_ "

The warden stared down the muzzle of the gun. "You wouldn't dare."

Her grip tightened. "Try me."

"Pidge," Lance repeated, more forceful this time.

She kept her gaze locked on the warden. "Tell me. Where. My brother is."

"Victory or death."

She pulled the trigger.

Time seemed to slow down, and silence rang in her ears.

After a long moment, she breathed again. She let the blaster fall to the floor. Tears were prickling at her eyes, and she let them fall. Wordlessly, she walked to where her helmet had fallen, picking it up and putting it back on.

Lance watched her in concern. "Pidge?"

She took a deep breath, steeling herself, refusing to make eye contact. "Alright," she muttered. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

The doors ahead of them slid open with a hiss. The two Galra sentries holding Matt by the arms forced him into the room, a few steps behind the Galra soldier.

They were in the main control bridge of the ship. An officer—the Commander, Matt assumed—stood in the center of the room.

The soldier leading Matt—he'd never said his name—stopped a few steps from the Commander and stood at attention. "Commander Reggar."

"Yes?"

"We have the prisoner you requested."

The Commander turned, looking over Matt appraisingly. His mouth curled in a triumphant smirk. "Wonderful. Put him with the other one."

"Yes, sir. Vrepit sa." With that, Matt was forced out of the bridge and lead roughly down the hall.

As he left, he heard Reggar shout again. "Lieutenant Blazak!"

"Yes, Commander!"

"Prison base Theta-twelve has been compromised. It's time to initiate phase two. We must track down Voltron."

Matt's eyes widened. _Katie_.

He was taken down the hall, towards the prison block with its endless rows of cells. _Put him with the other one_. Who could that be?

They stopped in front a cell door, and the Galra officer placed his hand against the scanner. The door slid open, and Matt was shoved inside unceremoniously. Without another word, the officer closed the cell door, and Matt was left with its other occupant.

He froze, taking in the figure before him. "Dad?"

* * *

 **AN:**

And that's a wrap on Part 2! Probably my favorite Part, tbh. Definitely my favorite to write.

I've determined that Part 2 could alternately be titled 'Let's see how we can make Pidge cry this time'  
I  
I'm so sorry, Pidge. I know it may not seem like it atm, but I do love you 3

This is a long chapter, guys. Like…a good thousand words longer than every other chapter. Enjoy the fruits of my labor.  
(And they're only gonna get longer from here….)

Also! Sam makes an appearance! Kind of.  
Cuz how could I call this a Holt family reunion fic if Sam isn't there.

Thank you so much to everyone who reads this! Your comments are keeping me going, haha 3  
Please feel free to come scream at/with me on tumblr! My url is this-book-has-been-loved, and there's a link in my bio.  
See you guys next week for the start of Part 3!

~Brigit


	8. Beings

**Part III: Stardust  
** **Chapter 8: Beings**

* * *

Something inside her had broken.

After their rescue mission to Serva had failed, the atmosphere in the castle had gone somber. They felt like they were waiting—for what, they didn't know. But the tension hung in the air, leaving a distinctly _unfinished_ tinge.

After nearly a quintant-and-a-half of everyone avoiding the topic, Pidge firmly pushed it out of her thoughts.

 _Stay distracted_ , she recited. _Keep yourself focused on other things. Put it out of your mind. Don't think about it._

And so she did what she best: buried her feelings and got to work on whatever tech-related problem needed her attention.

Taking a moment to steel herself, she knocked on Shiro's door.

"Come in."

The door slid open, and Shiro stood up a bit straighter at seeing her. "Pidge?"

"Keith told me there were some coordinates or something encoded in your arm," she said, jumping straight to the point. "Should we take a look at that?"

He paused, glancing down at his prosthetic and then back to her. "That…can wait. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'll be _fine_ ," she snapped. She took a deep shaky breath, steadying herself. "The best thing we can do for my family is to take down the Galra empire," she continued softly, looking down at the floor. "And if the next step to that is finding some mysterious coordinates programmed into your arm, then that's what we should do." She met his gaze, and they stared at one another for a moment.

Shiro exhaled and nodded once. "Okay. Let's get everyone else."

* * *

The days passed in a blur. The traveled from Thaldecon to Olkarion to Taujeer to the Unilu swap moon/space mall—constantly hopping throughout the galaxies. When she wasn't fighting, she was working. Upgrading the cloaking for her lion, trying to see if she could equip her podship with the cloaking (unfortunately she couldn't seem to figure out how to integrate it into her armor), studying the inner workings of the castle, decryption of all the data downloads (and partial downloads) they'd been collecting, reading through and analyzing and taking notes on any data she could get her hands on….

She wasn't sleeping as much. Her brain tended to run wild at night, bringing back painful memories she'd rather not relive. No—it was easier to stay awake, to keep busy, to pour herself into her work.

And now, _finally_ , they'd made it to the Blade of Marmora's headquarters.

Where she was stuck with nothing to do for _two days_ while Shiro and Keith spoke with the Galra rebels.

She sat in her chair in the bridge, her fingers holding tight to the seat. "I wish I was _in there_ ," she muttered. "Whatever's going on in there has gotta be way more exciting than just sitting here and _waiting_." Her leg was bouncing impatiently; distantly, she wondered how long that had been going on. "This is _agonizing_."

"I don't know if I'd say _agonizing_ ," Lance called from where he was sprawled out in his own chair. "Kinda nice getting to relax for once."

"Mm, I'm gonna have to agree with Pidge on this one," Hunk said. "I'd kind of like to know what's going on rather than just…speculating."

"I wanted to meet them," Pidge said, more to herself than to the others in the room. "If they have double agents or whatever infiltrating Zarkon's ranks, I want to talk to them." She pulled her legs up into her chair and hugged them to her chest. "They might be able to give me some answers."

"Well, it's going to be a while before we hear anything back from them," Coran said, chipper as always. "So we'll just have to wait until then."

Pidge let out a scream of frustration, curling further into herself. "I. _Hate_. _WAITING_."

"Easy there, Pigeon," Lance told her, sitting up. "Come on, I'm sure we can find _something_ to do to pass the time."

Hunk lit up. "Oh hey, that reminds me! I think I may have found a way to hook up that video game you guys bought back at that space mall!"

Lance brightened considerably at that. "Hunk, have I told you recently how much I love you?"

Hunk grinned, shrugging nonchalantly. "You could afford to say it more."

Allura sighed, tapping at her display screen. "Well, while you go do that, Coran and I will stay here and monitor the base. Be on alert in case something goes wrong."

Lance saluted as he sauntered across the bridge. "You got it, Princess." He stopped by Pidge's chair, where she was still resting her forehead on her knees and grumbling to herself. He crouched down beside her, gently prodding her side. "Hey Pidge. Pigeon. Pidgey. Pidgeroo. Pidge-asaurus. Pidgeotto."

" _What_ , Lance?" she snapped

"Ya wanna go play some Mercury Gameflux Two?"

She sighed, relenting, letting him drag her out of her chair. "Yeah. I could use some mindless video games right about now."

* * *

Lance had crashed.

After several hours of gameplay and complaining ("Come _on_ , Pidge, winning's not winning when your opponent doesn't have their heart in it."), he had passed out on the lounge's sofa, the mice curled up on his chest, leaving Pidge and Hunk alone.

Halfway through their third round together, Hunk pressed the pause button.

Pidge almost didn't notice at first, just kept pressing buttons. Confused, she turned to Hunk, to find him watching her in concern. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes, turning back to the paused game. "Peachy."

Hunk sighed. "Pidge, I'm going to be honest with you. You haven't been the same since Serva. It's been over a week. Don't think we haven't all noticed. You're barely eating. You haven't been sleeping. You're overworking yourself, Katie." At the use of her birth name, she stilled, and her hands clenched. "We're worried about you," Hunk continued, reaching out to rest a hand on her back. "We all are."

She flinched away from his touch, and her grip tightened on the controller. Her hands were shaking. "I don't need your pity," she muttered. "Can we—can we just go back to the game now?"

"Pidge, please—"

She let out a frustrated yell, throwing her controller to the ground. " _No!_ I am sick and tired of everyone treating me like I'm so…so…fragile! I'm not going to break!" She took a deep breath, collecting herself. "I'm…I'm fine." Her voice broke. "I'm going to be fine."

He was silent for a moment, then carefully reached out to her again. He placed his hand on her back, and this time she let him. "You know…it's okay to _not_ be fine."

"You don't understand," she muttered.

"I'd like to."

"I can take care of myself!"

"I know," he said simply. "The thing is, Pidge…you don't need to. You don't have to do everything on your own. We're all right here."

" _Ugh!_ " She buried her head in her hands. "You don't _understand_ ," she repeated, more desperately. "I _have_ to be okay. I _have_ to keep going. I can't let this control me and get in the way of things. If we don't stop Zarkon, then who will?" She was frantic, her voice rising in pitch with every word. "How _else_ am I supposed to help them? I—how can I call myself a defender of the universe if I can barely hold _myself_ together?! How can I be a Voltron paladin if I can't even do that?!"

"Well of _course_ you're a paladin," Hunk replied, as though it were the simplest thing. "Green chose you, Pidge. There's no changing that. You're the Green Paladin. But you know what else you are?"

"What?" she muttered.

"Human."

At that, she looked up.

"You're human, Pidge. You're allowed to have feelings. You're allowed to deal with those. You don't have to keep pushing them away—pushing all of us away."

The mice had stirred, abandoning Lance's chest to instead curl up against her legs. She sighed, absently petting Platt's head. "I know," she murmured. "I just…I'm used to dealing with stuff myself, and…." She shrugged. "I'm tired."

Hunk rubbed her back. "I think you need to get some rest."

She shook her head weakly. "It's worse then," she whispered. "When my mind starts wandering. I need to stay focused. I…I can't…."

He sighed, pulling her fully into his arms. "Alright," he said. "Then stay here. Lance and I will keep you company."

"Lance is asleep."

"As you should be."

She curled in on herself. "I can't," she said again. "Not…not yet. Can we just…go back to the game?"

He gave her an askance look. "Promise me you'll tell us when something's wrong?"

She nodded. "Promise."

He smiled, reaching forward to pick up her controller and handing it back to her. "Alright. Thank you, Pidge." He un-paused, and the game flickered back to life.

Pidge leaned up against him, resting her head against his chest. "Thank _you_ , Hunk," she told him firmly. "You're the best."

"Love you too, Katie."

* * *

They met the Red Lion in its hangar.

Keith stumbled out of the cockpit, followed by Shiro and two other figures. And if Pidge thought Keith looked a bit worse for wear, she didn't say anything. After briefly introducing them to their Galra companions, Keith and Shiro exchanged a meaningful glance.

"And…," Keith seemed hesitant to add, "there's something I need to tell you."

Allura frowned. "What's wrong? Keith, you look exhausted. What happened?"

Shiro put a hand on Keith's shoulder. "That's what we need to talk about," he said. "Can we go somewhere else?"

The Princess sent a cold glance towards the Galra—Kolivan and Antok—then turned back to Shiro and Keith. "Of course. We should move to the bridge. Kolivan and Antok can wait for us in the conference room."

"Keith, you look like you're about to collapse," Hunk said as they walked. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"'M fine," Keith mumbled. "Just…haven't slept."

"Dude, you realize that's the exact same excuse Pidge uses, right?"

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Shut up," she said, shoving Hunk lightly. "You mere mortals may need sleep. But Keith and I are of a higher calling."

"A higher calling," Lance repeated dryly.

"Mm-hmm."

"Pidge, you live off coffee and spite."

"Damn straight."

Keith didn't say anything. Instead, he waited until they'd made it to the bridge, with Kolivan and Antok waiting in the next room. With everyone's attention on him, he took a deep breath. "A lot happened while we were at the Blade's headquarters," he started. With that, he delved into explanation, going over the knife he'd carried and the trials he'd faced, all culminating with the way his blade had awoken. "And Kolivan mentioned," he finished, nearly stumbling over the words, "that…well, that would only be possible if…if Galra blood ran in my veins."

He was met by silence.

After a long moment, Allura spoke, her voice chilling. "What?"

Keith winced, but it was Shiro who answered. "Keith is part Galra," he repeated, placing a hand on Keith's shoulder. "We don't know how much, but that's not important. We just thought that as part of this team, you all deserved to know."

There was another pause. "If you'll excuse me," Allura said icily, "I should tend to our guests."

She left the room without another word. With a stammered apology ("I—I'm sorry. I should talk to her…."), Coran had left only steps behind her. As for the rest of the team, none of them really knew how to respond.

Keith fidgeted anxiously. "Yeah," he muttered. "That's pretty much exactly the reaction I was expecting." He pulled away from Shiro, stalking towards one of the other sets of doors leading out of the bridge.

"Wait," Lance stammered. "Keith!"

But the Red Paladin had already stormed out of the bridge.

Shiro sighed. "Give him some space. In the meantime, we should talk with Kolivan and Antok about our next steps against Zarkon."

* * *

She found him in the lounge.

Allura, Coran, Shiro, and Lance were on the bridge with Kolivan and Antok, discussing their plan for taking down the Galra Empire. Hunk had decided to take this opportunity to catch up on lost sleep. Pidge was tempted to join him, but instead found herself wandering the halls of the castle.

She didn't realize she was looking for Keith until she walked in on him.

He was slouching on one of the sunken couches, arms crossed over his chest, as he glared out the window at the stars surrounding them.

She knew that he'd heard her enter; she noticed the way his eyes flickered towards the door, the way his posture tightened almost imperceptibly, as though he wanted nothing more than to run away and hide.

And he looked exhausted. As she came up to stand beside him, Pidge noticed the bags under his eyes, the way his shoulders sagged against the back of the couch, the bruises blossoming across his collarbone and disappearing into his shirt.

She stopped about a foot away from him, but he didn't turn towards her. "Keith. Buddy. You should get some rest."

He didn't move. "I'm fine."

She raised an eyebrow. _Well, doesn't that sound familiar_. "No, you're kinda not," she told him. "If what you and Shiro told us is accurate, you've been on your feet fighting for nearly _two days straight_. You need to get some sleep."

"Sleep is for the weak."

"Keith, you haven't slept in two days."

He gave her a withering glance. "Like you're really one to talk."

She sighed, collapsing onto the sofa beside him. "Yeah, alright, fair enough."

They fell into silence, tense and charged. The words hovered unspoken between them––neither of them wanting to make the first move.

After a moment that seemed to stretch on for eternity, Pidge took a deep breath. "Can we…can we talk? About the whole… _Galra_ thing?"

He closed his eyes in resignation, somehow managing to curl up even further into himself, still stubbornly refusing to meet her gaze. "Pidge, I'm sorry—"

"No. Shut up." He froze, surprised at her vehemence, and finally turned to meet her gaze. She bit her lip, trying to find the right words. "Just shut up and let me say things." He motioned for her to continue and she nodded, steeling herself. "The Galra have taken everything from me," she murmured, looking towards the starry expanse through the window. "My father…my brother…and just when I get him back they take him away again, and so they're still just out of reach. I _hate_ the Galra for all they've done to me."

He turned his attention towards the floor. "Pidge, if you're trying to cheer me up—"

"Let me finish," she said, elbowing him playfully. "What I'm trying to get at here…is that's not you."

He stilled, glancing up at her curiously.

"That's not who you are," she continued. "None of that defines you. You're still the same Keith you were yesterday." She smiled at him. "You're still you. I know that. You know that. The rest of the team knows that, too. You're still the Red Paladin, and you're still our friend. You're still part of this team…part of this _family_. And that's not gonna change—Galra or not." She took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. "I trust you."

Keith flushed, smiling wanly as his grip on her hand tightened. "I—Pidge…."

She rested her head on his shoulder, curling up on the sofa beside him. "Now I don't know about you," she began casually, "but I know I haven't really gotten much sleep these past few days. Or weeks. And I am _tired_."

He laughed, wrapping an arm around her. "Believe it or not, I think I can relate to that."

* * *

Kolivan and Antok had returned to the Marmora base, to wait until preparations were complete and to keep in contact with their infiltrator.

Everyone else waited in the bridge, going over the details and specifics of their plan once again.

"For this to succeed, we're gonna need to split up," Coran intoned as they all stood in the bridge. "We all have a task to do. If any one of us fails, the entire plan fails."

"Right," Hunk mumbled. "No pressure or anything."

Keith clapped him on the shoulder. "We'll be fine."

Shiro nodded towards them. "Keith, Hunk: you'll be in charge of getting the scaultrite. Pidge and Lance and I will head to Beta Traz to free Slav. Coran will go to Olkarion to coordinate the construction of the teludav, and Allura will get a crystal from the Balmera. Once that's done, we'll pick up Kolivan and Antok and head for Zarkon's base."

"And then Zarkon's going down," Lance said with a grin.

"Alright, the faster we get this done, the better," Shiro continued. "Is everyone ready?" Nodding from around the room. "Good. Let's move ou—"

Then the display screen starting flashing red.

"Zarkon again?" Pidge asked, already heading towards her station. "I thought we'd finally gotten him off our tail."

"It's not an attack," Coran told them, typing away at his control panel. "We're picking up a distress beacon."

That didn't do much to lessen the tension in the room. Allura and Shiro exchanged worrisome glances. _We're stretched too thin_.

It was Keith who spoke. "We don't have time for that. Kolivan told us how to stop Zarkon; we need to focus on the issue at hand."

Allura pursed her lips. "The Paladin Code states that we must help all those in need."

"Yeah, I've heard that before," Lance said, rolling his eyes. "When was it?" he continued sarcastically. "Oh, right. We were on our way to the Balmera when we were hailed by Rolo and Nyma." He crossed his arms. "Hey, does anyone else remember that? The _last_ time we got sidetracked from an urgent mission by a distress beacon like this?" he asked pointedly. "It ended with me handcuffed to a tree while Rolo and Nyma stole my lion. Ringing a bell?"

"Not every distress beacon is gonna be a trap set by bounty hunters," Hunk tried to reason.

"I'm just saying." Lance held up his hands in surrender. "Maybe we should stick to the plan at hand. You know, stopping Zarkon?"

Pidge crossed her arms. "I'm not turning my back on anyone who needs help."

Shiro turned to Coran. "Where is it coming from?"

Coran pressed a few more buttons, and the image of a planet appeared on the main display screen. "A planet called Vallen," he told them. "Our records show it was taken over by the Galra hundreds of years ago. They've…well, it seems they've been using it as…as a prison."

The tension in the air only tightened. No one said it, but it still hung unspoken in the air: _like Serva_.

Shiro didn't react outwardly––only continued to watch Coran. "And the distress beacon?"

"It appears to be coming from the prison. The prisoners there are rebelling, and are requesting backup."

Pidge ignored the looks the others sent her, keeping her eyes pinned to the display. "We have to help them."

Allura sighed. "As much as I think we should stay on track with our preparations, Pidge is right. We cannot ignore their calls for help simply because we've set our sights on a bigger target."

Lance sighed. "Alright. Guess Slav will have to wait."

"Coran, send them a response," Shiro commanded. "Let them know that Voltron is on it's way. Allura, we're gonna need a wormhole. The rest of you: suit up."

* * *

They exited the wormhole and Vallen came into focus. The planet, a mass of grays and blues, hung before them, suspended in the stars.

Shiro took it in calmly, nodding. "Alright, bring us in."

"Ah, slight issue with that."

Allura frowned. "What is it, Coran?"

Coran was fiddling with the data readouts of the scanners. "There's a Galra ship coming in ahead of us."

Keith's head snapped up in surprise. "What? That's impossible!"

Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder, then turned to Coran. "Are you sure it's Galra?"

Before Coran could answer, the ship appeared before them. And along with it, multiple smaller ships, pods, and fighters, all blasting into view one by one. An entire fleet, in all it's imposing purple glory.

"Pretty sure," Coran squeaked.

"This can't be good," Lance muttered.

"How did they find us?" Allura demanded. "They must have known we were coming." Pidge didn't miss the sidelong glance she cast towards Keith.

"I thought Zarkon couldn't track us through the Black Lion anymore," Hunk fretted.

Pidge frowned. "They must've intercepted the distress call."

Shiro set his jaw. "It doesn't matter how they found us right now. We should get to our lions."

"Wait."

They all paused at Coran's outburst, turning towards him curiously.

"Coran?" Allura pressed.

He took a deep breath, looking up from the console. "Incoming transmission, Princess."

She seemed dumbstruck. "From…the Galra command ship?"

Shiro shot her a concerned glance, then turned back to Coran. "Accept it," he commanded warily. "Everyone, be ready. Whatever they have to say, it can't be good."

The display screen flickered, and the view of Vallen was replaced by a vidlink with the Galra ship. A single Galra officer took up most of the screen, his chin pointed up in disdain.

"Voltron," the Galra sneered. "I am Commander Reggar."

Allura pursed her lips, glaring at the screen. "To what do we owe this call?"

"I come offering a bargain," he told them. "I believe you have something I want. Namely, the Voltron lions. In return, it seems that I have something _you_ want. Or, rather, some _one_. Two someones, who I'm sure some of your Paladins would be very pleased to see."

Before Pidge could say anything, the image on the display screen changed. The camera panned over to show two people. Their hands were cuffed behind them, and sentries held them by the arms.

Pidge froze.

 _Matt_.

But no, it wasn't only Matt.

"Dad?" she whispered.

Ahead of her, Shiro tensed.

"Surrender Voltron," spoke Reggar's voice from offscreen, "and guarantee their freedom."

Matt jerked away from the sentry. "Katie, no, it's a trap!"

One of the sentries beside him smacked him with the butt of its gun, and he grunted in pain.

Pidge let out a small squeak, her hands flying to cover her mouth.

Lance put a hand on her shoulder protectively, coming to stand a half-step in front of her.

"Let them go, Reggar," Shiro ordered, his voice steely. "They're not involved in this."

"Not involved?" The camera turned to focus back on Reggar, this time with a wider angle so as to keep the prisoners in the background. "Then in that case, perhaps I should simply dispose of them now—"

" _No!_ "

She didn't realize she had been the one to scream until the words had already left her mouth.

Reggar was smirking in triumph. "As I thought," he quipped. "You have one varga," he added. "Don't disappoint me." The comm link switched off, and the bridge was filled with silence.

Pidge couldn't breathe.

Within two ticks of the transmission ending, Lance's hand had moved from her shoulder to pull her into a hug. "Oh, Pigeon."

And the rest of the team was there too, circling her, reaching out, their voices swirling around her as everything faded and conflicted and bled together. "Pidge—" "Is she okay?" "We have to do something." "Katie?" "I've got her."

She gasped in between her sobs, trying to remind herself to breathe. "We—we have—"

"I know," Lance murmured, rubbing her back. "I know. We will."

She couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, couldn't move, couldn't focus, couldn't do much of anything other than cry.

 _Come_ _ **on**_ _, Katie, pull it together, you don't have time for this, just breathe, Pidge, breathe._

Distantly, she was aware of Shiro saying the same thing: "Deep breaths, Katie. Come on. Breathe with me."

Her grip on reality tightened, and the tension in her shoulders started to ease.

When her tears slowed and her breathing evened out, she pulled back from the hug, blinking as everything came back into focus.

She was sitting in a heap on the floor (when had that happened?) with Lance kneeling by her on one side and Hunk on the other (hadn't they done this already?).

Shiro was watching her face intently. "You here?" She nodded, and he reached out to help her back to her feet. "Alright, we need a plan of attack. And _fast_."

She felt like her head was spinning. "But—But _Zarkon_."

"This takes first priority."

Pidge wiped at her eyes. "But the Blade—"

"The Blade of Marmora can _wait_." Shiro insisted. "This is _your family_ on the line here."

Keith nodded. "Kolivan will—no, scratch that, Kolivan _won't_ understand. But you know what? Fuck Kolivan. We're _Voltron_. He can't tell us what to do."

She didn't quite laugh, but she felt herself smile. "Thanks, guys."

Hunk rubbed her back, smiling softly. "'Course."

"We're always gonna stand by you, Pidge," Lance agreed.

Pidge took another deep breath, still trying to put her nerves at rest. "So?" She looked to Shiro. "What's the plan?"

* * *

 **AN** :

Whoa! It's an early update!  
Yeah, I'm posting this at like 9am cuz I'm going to the aquarium today. Enjoy, lol.

Anyways

Chapters 5-7: are full of Pidge crying  
Me, writing chapter 8: "You know what this story needs? More of Pidge crying."

Hahaa sorrynotsorry

My working title for this chapter was 'canon catch up' lol

The bonding scenes in this chapter make me happy. The paladins just all love each other so much.  
I believe another title for this chapter would be "Pidge and Keith are best friends and no one can tell me otherwise." (And Pidge's VA Bex just said p much the same thing on the Let's Voltron podcast like last week? #confirmed)

Thank you everyone for reading! Your comments never fail to make me smile.

As always, my tumblr url is this-book-has-been-loved and there's a link in my bio if you wanna come hang with me there.

I'll see you all next Monday for chapter 9! Me and my bff Seifert are gonna head out to go look at some fish now.

~Brigit


	9. Monarch

**Chapter 9: Monarch**

* * *

The emptiness that had consumed her these past few days was gone. Instead she was at war with herself: righteous anger, crippling sadness, and fiery determination fought for dominance. Nervous energy bubbled inside her, and she could hardly keep herself from bouncing up and down on her toes.

One varga—one hour—wasn't much time to formulate an extensive plan, but they did what they could in the time they had.

They all stood in Green's hangar, suited up for battle, going over the plan one last time. She had one hand resting on her lion, ready to just climb into the cockpit and _go_.

Shiro's arms were crossed, and she could tell he was anxious by the way he drummed his fingers on his bicep. "Katie, this isn't safe."

"Dude," Hunk deadpanned. "You realize there's nothing you can do to stop her, right?"

Shiro sighed. "I just don't like the idea of you going in there alone."

"I won't _be_ alone," Pidge reminded him. "Lance'll be there too."

"Still—"

"And I'll have Keith for backup," she continued. "Not to mention the _freaking Green Lion_." She looked at him for a moment, then reached out to wrap her arms around him. "I know you feel responsible, or whatever," she mumbled into his chest. "Because you know me. Because you know my family. And I appreciate that. But for once, can you just let me be the reckless irresponsible teenager I am?"

He laughed once, letting out a whoosh of air, as he pulled her in closer. "Just…promise me you'll be careful."

"I will," she told him, pulling back to look him in the eyes. "I promise." Her smile started to fade. "I'm not letting this mission fail. I'm not leaving him again."

"You won't have to," Lance told her. "This'll be a piece of cake. Get in, blow some stuff up, and get out."

"And there's still Vallen to worry about," Allura added anxiously. "We haven't been able to establish contact with the prison whatsoever. Who knows what's going on down there."

"Hunk and I will take care of that," Shiro assured her.

"Is there even a prison camp there?" Hunk wondered. "Or was that all just a ruse to lure us out here?"

"I guess we'll just have to find out," Shiro replied with a shrug. "Either way, it'll keep them occupied so the rest of you can do what you need to do on his ship."

"Matt said it was a trap," Keith said softly. "What do you think Reggar has planned for this?"

"Well, he's definitely not going to keep his word," Lance said, rolling his eyes. "As if he'd actually let them go."

"Surrender isn't an option anyway."

"So we'll do what we do best and improvise," Pidge said impatiently. "Can we go now?"

Shiro sighed, rubbing his face in resignation. "I feel like I'm raising a bunch of children," he muttered. Then, louder, and more clearly, "Go ahead, Pidge. Good luck."

Pidge cheered, grabbing Lance by the hand to pull him into the Green Lion with her. "Alright, sidekick, let's get going!"

" _Sidekick?!_ "

Ignoring Lance's indignant sputtering, she settled into her chair in the cockpit. "Hold on tight," she called. "Here we go!"

With that, the Green Lion shot out of its hangar, flying through the stars towards the imposingly large Galra warship that hung before them.

"Okay, Lance, you're gonna have to move fast. I don't know how many sentries will be in there, but hopefully most of them will leave with me. You'll have to take out the rest of them and patch into the internal systems. All you have to do is open a hatch in the wall and scan the systems with your gauntlet. Then Coran will be able to hack in and mess with everything so Keith can get on board."

"Got it."

"Good." She tapped at her console, fiddling with a few settings. "You should get to the back room. They might try to access the video feed and we don't want them knowing that you're with me."

He nodded, tearing his eyes from the warship. "Good luck."

"You too."

Alone in the cockpit of her lion, she felt the adrenaline rush start to set in. "Alright. Time to kick some ass."

She took a deep breath, then switched her comms to an open frequency. "Attention Galra vessel, this is the Green Paladin. Don't shoot; I'm surrendering my lion. If you could open the hangar doors, that'd be appreciated."

Her transmission was answered without a word; the hangar doors before her merely opened, revealing the purple-lit interior. Then they did one step better: activated a tractor beam.

They pulled her into the hangar, but she still maintained enough control to manage her own landing. She guided her lion to a stop, making sure to leave plenty of room beside her for Keith.

"This is it," she told herself, watching through the viewscreens as dozens of sentries filed into the bay. Sensing her lion's anxiety, she placed a hand on the dashboard. "Alright, girl, remember: shields up as soon as I get out. And I promise: I'll let you know if things go wrong and I need a rescue." Her lion rumbled, still uneasy but content with her promise. Pidge smiled. "And be nice to Lance," she chastised.

Green grumbled grudgingly, and Pidge could've sworn she rolled her eyes. _No promises_.

Despite everything, Pidge laughed.

She stood up to leave the cockpit, heading towards the exit ramp in Green's mouth.

"Lance," she called, "get ready."

Green lowered her head and opened her mouth, allowing Pidge to step out.

She was greeted by not just sentries, but soldiers as well. The soldiers appeared to be unarmed,  
but she knew from experience (namely, her fight against Haxus) that they carried swords. Not to mention the sentries—she counted at least two dozen of them, all aiming their blasters at her. She kept her hands up as she walked down the ramp towards them, eyeing them warily.

"Well, hi, there," she said jauntily. "Any of you guys know where I can find Commander Reggar? I'm here to return his call."

* * *

She was taken down a series of hallways. Two sentries walked in front of her, and two behind her. The procession was led by a single officer.

She still wore her helmet, and they hadn't bound her hands.

Though she'd turned down the volume of the comms, she was able to hear the rest of her team as they set each step of their plan in motion.

( _"Coran, are you getting this?"_

 _"Yes, just need to—ah! Got it! All ready for you, Keith."_

 _"On it."_ )

She tuned it out, focusing on her surrounding as she was marched towards a set of imposing doors set into the wall.

The soldier put his hand to the scanner and the doors opened. He stepped forward, leaving Pidge and the sentries in the hall. Through the doorway, Pidge could see the imposing frame of Commander Reggar. At the side of the room, nearly out of her field of vision, she could make out a few other figures against the wall. She craned her neck to get a better look, then froze as she took them in. _Dad and Matt_.

The soldier who had entered before her stood at attention before Reggar and saluted. "Sir, we have the Green Paladin."

Matt started.

Commander Reggar turned, looking past the soldier and into the hall. He smiled. "Perfect. Bring them in."

The sentries behind her prodded her forwards, and she stepped towards the doorway.

 _They're here_ , she told her lion. _Tell the rest of the team. I found them. They're here._

They hadn't expected this. They'd assumed Reggar would have them stuck in a cell somewhere. While this certainly cleared up one issue for them, it still threw a wrench in their plans. They'd have to speed things up.

She could hear the voices from the rest of her team over the comm link as their own lions passed on the information.

"Hold tight, Pidge." Even with the volume turned low, Keith's voice still rang clear. "I'm on my way."

Walking into the room, she made quick eye contact first with Matt, and then with her father. She took a deep breath as she focused her attention back towards the Galra commander. _It'll be fine_ , she reminded herself. _Just keep him talking_.

"You are dismissed, Blazak," Reggar intoned, never once taking his eyes off Pidge.

The officer who had lead Pidge bowed. "Vrepit sa." He exited the bridge, and she was left alone with Reggar.

She held her head high. "Commander Reggar," she greeted, meeting his gaze.

"Paladin."

She took a moment to assess the situation. There was Reggar, of course, standing before her in his full imposing glory. But he was the only officer in the room. The only other Galra there were the sentries: four of them surrounding her, and two by her dad and Matt. Six total. She smirked. This was _nothing_.

"Alright," she said, locking eyes with Reggar. "You wanted a surrender? I'm here."

Across the room, Matt stepped towards her, only to have his path blocked by sentries. "Katie, don't—"

"I can handle this, Matt," she told him, sparing him a brief glance.

" _Katie_." Her father's voice was calm but firm, reproachful yet warm, somehow managing to convey a dozen emotions in just a single word.

Pidge squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to let herself cry in front of Reggar. "Please," she whispered. "I know what I'm doing."

"By all means," Reggar intoned, his tone dripping in amusement, "let the paladin handle this."

"Stop," she told him, and he turned back to face her. "Your fight is with me. Not them. I told you, I'm here to negotiate surrender."

His lip curled in disgust. "And yet you bring me but one lion," he replied evenly. "I believe my terms were for the surrender of Voltron. And _one lion_ is not Voltron."

"Well _four_ lions isn't Voltron either," she retorted. "They can't form Voltron without me, which is good news for you." She folded her hands behind her back, blinking up at him innocently. "I'm just here to discuss the terms of surrender in more explicit terms. Your earlier transmission seemed to be…cut short."

His yellow eyes flashed dangerously. "You forget your place. You're not the one in charge of this situation. You're on your own here. There's nothing you can do against me."

Her lion paced anxiously in her mind, and Pidge felt the waves of worry emanating from her. _It's okay_ , Pidge hastened to assure her. _Don't worry. I've got this_.

"I'm only one paladin," Pidge reminded him. "There are four others, running around somewhere. They could be back on our ship, or flying around in their lions. Could be worlds away. Could be somewhere else on this very ship." She shrugged, nonchalantly. "Who knows?"

He glowered, stepping towards her menacingly. "Don't play games with me, Paladin."

She shrunk back instinctively, but held her ground. "I'm just making sure all the cards are on the table."

A second set of doors, on the opposite end of the bridge, slid open and a soldier, though not the one that had led Pidge there earlier, stepped through. "Sir, we have an issue."

Reggar's eyes narrowed as he turned towards the intruder. "What happened?"

"It seems the Black and Yellow Lions have opened fire."

" _What?!_ "

"They're attacking our ground forces on Vallen. They…they appear to be attempting to liberate the prison."

With a snarl, Reggar whirled back on Pidge. She didn't flinch, just stood there impassively, a small smile on her face. "I can guarantee you that whatever you throw at them, they'll be able to take care of it."

"Arkul," the commander yelled, turning back to the soldier. "Attack them with our full arsenal. Don't let them get away."

"Vrepit sa, sir."

The soldier left. Out of the corner of her eye, Pidge saw Matt and their father exchange a curious glance.

"You come here to speak of surrender," Reggar snarled. "And yet even now your lions attack our forces on the planet Vallen."

"That's beyond my control," she answered cooly. "The Black and Yellow Lions don't answer to me."

"This is a waste of my time," he snapped. "You're useless to me!"

Green pushed herself to the forefront of Pidge's mind, nearly roaring, _Do you need me to come now?_ But the paladin merely sent her reassuring thoughts: _Hold_.

She didn't realize that she'd said it out loud until she saw how Reggar was staring at her, his brow furrowed. "Your helmet," he realized.

She froze. "What?"

"You're communicating with the other Paladins."

She breathed, urging herself to stay calm. "You seem to be forgetting that I have a psychic bond with a giant magic robot cat," she deadpanned. "I don't need a helmet to communicate with them."

"Then you won't object to taking it off." When she didn't answer, he grinned and turned towards the sentries standing by her. "Remove their helmet," he instructed.

A sentry reached towards her, and she smacked its arm away. "I can remove my own helmet," she snapped.

In one deliberate motion, Pidge pulled it off her head, letting her hair fall into place as she stared Reggar down.

The commander started to smile, taking in her appearance, then glancing over towards Matt. "Well," he mused. "I think that answers a few questions."

She let her helmet fall to the floor, clenching her fists and glaring fiercely at Reggar. "Let. My family. Go."

"I think the stakes are rising for you," was his response. "Don't forget which of us is in charge here. You're in over your head, Paladin."

"Psychic bond with a Voltron lion," she reminded him. "You lay one finger on me and she starts blasting her way in here to get me."

Reggar hummed, seemingly unconcerned. "That may be true. But can you say the same for them?" He waved a hand towards the wall where her brother and father waited.

In response, she drew her bayard, holding it unactivated in her hand. She wanted nothing more than to activate it and unleash hell, but with so many added variables hanging in the air….

 _Come_ _ **on**_ _, Keith, where are you?_

"You wish to fight, Paladin?" Reggar said, his voice deathly quiet. "Then I will oblige." He drew a weapon, a cylinder of metal, and a glowing purple blade burst to life. Pidge grimaced, reminded of her fight back on the castle with Haxus; he'd had a sword just like this one.

"Katie," her father spoke again. A hush fell over the room. But Reggar didn't interrupt him, and so Sam Holt continued. "Katherine Holt. If you have a way off of this ship, then you get out of here."

Pidge broke, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. But she didn't turn to him—keeping her eyes locked on Reggar and his sword. "I…I can't."

"That's an _order_ , Cadet."

She winced. He was using his commander voice, which he only ever did when he was upset. "You can't ask me to do that, Dad."

Beside him, Matt was just as tense, straining at his bonds. "Katie, you need to _leave_."

"No!" she shouted, her fists clenching. She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting back the tears that she could feel were moments from spilling over. "I'm not leaving you again!" Her voice cracked. "I just got you back," she rasped. "I…I _can't_ lose you again."

Reggar watched her, his face impassive as he leisurely swung his glowing blade. "Well, Paladin?"

Pidge took a deep breath, steeling her nerves, and met his monochrome yellow eyes.

She activated her bayard.

Reggar didn't make a move to attack her himself; instead he merely directed his attention towards the four sentries that guarded her. "Open fire."

" _KATIE!_ "

She was a whirl of motion.

She dropped to the floor, letting the blasts from one hit one that had been behind her. She came up on the other side of the first, slashing it cleanly in half. Swiping with her bayard, she cut off the head of the third and sent its body crashing into the fourth, causing them both to clatter to the floor.

Then Reggar was there, slashing at her vehemently. She blocked his swipes against the tip of her bayard, but barely.

Back on Serva, the prison warden hadn't been too hard to fight. A bit overweight, out of shape, not used to battle—Pidge had been able to take him down with hardly any effort.

Reggar was entirely different.

He had his sword, and he clearly knew how to use it.

Within a few hits, he'd disarmed her. Her bayard fell out of her hands, clattering uselessly to the ground and spinning out of reach.

Before she could make a move towards it, Reggar lunged. In an instant, the tip of the blade was pointed mere inches from her throat. She froze, her heartbeat pounding in her ears as a tense silence gripped the room.

Commander Reggar grimaced, glaring down at her. "You're not leaving this ship alive."

* * *

 **AN** :

Good thing that cliffhanger got resolved amiright

Sorry for the delay, guys! I was having laptop problems, and then I had to leave the house for a while. I only just got to a place where I have wi-fi so I can upload.

Another annoyingly short chapter; my apologies. I did some… _extensive_ editing last night.

I was going over stuff last night (with the help of my wonderful beta Seifert) and we decided that this chapter should really be split in two. It got…very long.  
So congrats guys, you get to suffer through another week and another cliffhanger.

Most of this chapter (and, subsequently, the next chapter as well) was written in a single late night haze.  
I was up till like 2 or 3am writing, with 'Lionhearted' by Porter Robinson playing pretty much on repeat, haha.  
Almost wanted to make 'Lionhearted' the chapter title for this, but that would have broken my name theme.  
And then I was up till 5am last night editing this chapter (and parts of the next one too...)  
I do my best work late at night. It's like "oh, the super critical part of my brain has gone to sleep! Finally, I can write without second guessing every other word!"

A huge thank you to everyone who's continued to read this fic! You guys mean so much to me 3 And your comments absolutely warm my heart.

See you next week!

~Brigit


	10. Technicolor

**Chapter 10: Technicolor**

* * *

Pidge was out of options.

 _"You're not leaving this ship alive."_

She narrowed her eyes, glaring. "Watch me."

He raised an eyebrow. "Watch you," he echoed. His grip on his sword tightened.

Before he could say another word, the far doors opened again, and a soldier entered. "Sir, there's been a disruption—"

"What is it now?!" Reggar whirled to face the doors, and Pidge took the opportunity to take a step back.

The soldier blanched. Was it the same one as before? Pidge couldn't tell. "I—I apologize, Sir," he stammered, "but it seems the Red—"

Pidge gasped lightly, her eyes widening. "Fine!" she shouted, desperate to cut off the soldier's report. At her outburst, Reggar turned towards her, holding up a hand to silence the soldier. "You win," Pidge said, and she saw her father jerk forward. "Just…just _promise_ me…."

If she was right about what that one soldier had started to say, then Keith must be somewhere on the ship. Without her helmet, she wasn't able to hear the rest of her team, wouldn't be able to receive an auditory signal from Keith. So she kept her eyes peeled, searching for a visual signal.

"Leave us," Reggar ordered the soldier.

"But, sir—"

" _Now_."

There!—a flash of light from the catwalk. Pidge glanced up, taking in the figure poised in the scaffolding. Keith had activated his shield, casting the area around him in a faint cyan glow. When she met his eyes, he nodded.

Setting her jaw, she looked back at Reggar. "How can I be sure you'll keep your end of the deal?"

"I'm a man of my word."

Pidge crossed her arms. "Forgive me if I'm having trouble believing that. See, in my experience, the Galra tend to lie a lot. What assurance do I have that you won't do the same?"

"If you're trying to get me to drop my guard," he growled, "it's not going to work."

"I'm not trying. I'm _succeeding_." Seeing the way his eyes narrowed, the way his shoulders tensed ever-so-slightly, she stood up a bit straighter. "Allow me to let you in on a little secret," Pidge told him, leaning in towards him. "There's only one Galra who I trust. And it sure as hell isn't you."

The commander sneered. "Oh? And who might that be?"

She smirked. "Why don't you turn around and see for yourself?"

Then everything seemed to happen at once.

The knife came shooting out of the shadows, and Reggar barely had time to turn and deflect it off the hit of his sword. At the same time, Pidge ducked, rolling to the side in one fluid motion.

The luxite blade clattered to the floor, and Keith dropped down beside it, drawing and activating his bayard. "Surprise."

Reggar glowered, glancing back over his shoulder to take in both paladins, both standing at the ready. The two sentries who stood guard by Sam and Matt had taken up arms as well, aiming their blasters at her and Keith.

"An ambush," the commander growled.

"I did mention there may be other paladins on the ship," Pidge reminded him.

Keith grinned, charging Reggar without another word. Their swords collided, sending off bursts of glowing sparks. But Pidge ignored their fight, focusing instead on the sentries that were guarding her family. She ran towards them, barely pausing as she swiped her bayard back off the floor. Both of the sentries had their blasters pointed at her, and she smirked. "Come and get me."

They ran towards her, and Pidge launched into action. She slid between the legs of the first sentry, slashing at its knees, then leapt at the second one to drive her bayard through its chest. The robot fell to the floor, and Pidge ran to her brother, taking him by the arm, using her bayard to slice through the handcuffs around his wrists.

"Katie—"

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

She moved towards her dad next, cutting through his bonds so that the handcuffs fell to the floor.

"Katherine," her father said, turning to face her.

She took him by the hands, staring into his eyes frantically. "I'm sorry, I know you probably have a million questions, and I promise I'll get to all that later; but right now, I need to finish taking care of this."

He smiled at her, briefly leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I'm so proud of you, Katie."

Tears prickled at her eyes, and she forced them not to fall. "I love you, Dad."

With that, she turned and ran full-force into the fray.

Keith had Reggar occupied in their sword fight. She came up from behind the Galra commander, striking upwards with her bayard. The glowing green blade hit at a chink in his armor, and arcs of electricity shot through him.

She let her rage charge the blast, letting it all out in one cathartic wave of anger.

Still sparking, Reggar fell unconscious to the floor.

For a moment, there was silence.

Keith straightened, retracting his bayard and moving to collect his Marmora knife from where it had fallen. "That thing really packs a punch."

She glanced down at her bayard, then quickly deactivated it. "You," she muttered, glancing back towards the Red Paladin, "are late."

"Ran into some trouble on the way."

Pidge barely heard his reply. She breathed deeply, letting herself come down from her adrenaline high. Wordlessly, she spun back to face her family. She broke into a run, throwing herself into her father's arms.

"Oh my god," she cried. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault, I never…I…I should've—"

"Shhh," her dad soothed. "You're alright, Katie, it's okay."

Matt was hugging her from the other side, and she melted into their embrace. "I've missed you so much."

Distantly, she was aware of Keith's voice as he filled in the team through the comms. "Reggar's down," he reported. "We found the Holts. Preparing for extraction."

That pulled her back to reality, and she took a deep breath to steel herself. _Pull yourself together, Pidge, this isn't over yet_.

Pidge pulled away from the hug, wiping at her eyes. "Okay." She took a deep breath. "Okay. We need to get out of here. He's not going to stay unconscious forever," she added, glancing at Reggar's prone form.

She glanced at Keith, who was waiting patiently a few yards away, her helmet cradled in his arms. Catching her eye, he held out the helmet. "You alright?" he asked, tossing it towards her.

"Better than ever." She caught her helmet easily, standing up a bit straighter as she pulled it on. "Alright. Keith, this is my dad and my brother. Guys, this is Keith. He's cool. Now let's get the hell out of here." Already halfway to the door, she brought a hand up to her helmet to make sure the comms mic was switched on. "Lance? It's Pidge. We're on our way back."

"Good," she heard him reply. "I'll meet you halfway."

Keith turned towards the Holts with a tentative smile, saluting. "Commander and Lieutenant Holt," he greeted, "if you could follow me, please."

* * *

It was too much to hope that they hadn't tripped any alarms. Even if Reggar wasn't conscious enough to issue orders, the other soldiers had certainly noticed their saboteurs. If not when Keith fought his way from the hangar to the bridge, then certainly when the bridge went dark, or when Lance made his presence known.

"Pidge, Keith, you've got incoming," Coran said over the comms. "The BLIP-tech scans are showing a large amount of Galra in the next room. Be careful!"

"Thanks for the heads-up, Coran," Keith replied. He looked towards Pidge, and she nodded. With her confirmation, he pressed his palm to the scanner to open the door.

The four of them found themselves on a catwalk overlooking a lower deck. Below them, about a dozen sentries patrolled. Keith frowned. "That's our way out," he murmured, pointing towards a set of doors below them. "We're gonna need to get past them to get out of here."

Matt peered over the edge of the catwalk. "How?" he asked. "Both of you have melee weapons. We'd need something long-range."

Pidge stood up, activating her bayard. "I'm on it." She fired her bayard at the ceiling, letting the grappling hook secure itself around the scaffolding.

"Pidge," Keith said, completely deadpan. "What are you doing?"

She climbed over the railing, holding onto it firmly with one hand. "Um, going down there. Obviously."

Matt blinked. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Aw, come on; you've seen me take out, like, twice as many as this."

"Yeah, and you nearly gave me a heart attack."

"I'll be _fine_." With that, she leapt off the catwalk, swinging on her bayard like a vine. With a loud cheer, she bowled into the sentries, sending a number of them falling to the floor.

Keith cursed, activating his own bayard. "I hate it when she does this," he muttered. He jumped over the railing after her, using his jetpack to slow his fall.

The sentries that hadn't been caught in her swing turned towards her, opening fire. She dropped to her feet, retracting her bayard and using it as a dagger as she charged into the fray.

She felt the impact in her left shoulder as one of their shots hit home. She hissed in pain, stumbling back. Keith jumped in front of her, swinging his sword in a wide arc, taking out the nearest sentries.

Matt, coming down the stairwell onto the lower level, grabbed a fallen blaster and opened fire on the last few sentries. As they fell, he held up the blaster smugly. "Long-range," he repeated.

"Yeah, yeah," Pidge muttered. She rubbed gingerly at her left shoulder. Her armor had taken the brunt of the impact from the laser fire, but she was still sore to the touch. That was definitely going to leave a mark. Keith glanced at her curiously, raising an eyebrow, but she ignored him. "Well that's done." She looked up as Matt and Sam came to join them. "Onwards?"

"You," Keith decided, "are going to be the death of me."

"Love you too!" she chirped, already backing towards the door.

"Is she always like this?" Sam asked.

"More often than not," Keith replied.

Pidge rolled her eyes, calling over her shoulder, "You're an enabler and you know it!"

He shrugged, following her out into the hall. "Never said I wasn't."

Pidge rounded the next corner, skidding to a halt as she came face-to-face with a familiar blue-and-white blaster. "Lance!"

"Pidge!" he gasped, lowering the gun.

"Status report?"

"Good news is I've pretty much cleared the path from here back to the hangar," he told her. "Bad news is they now know for sure that there are three paladins on board and they really don't want us leaving."

She sighed. "What else is new," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "Okay, well. Lance, this is my dad and my brother. We can do proper introductions later. Let's go."

She gave Lance a push back down the hall, prodding him to lead the way. He gave a little wave towards Pidge's family, then started back how he'd came, winding through the mostly-empty halls towards the hangar where Green and Red were stowed.

"Pidge." Again, Coran called through the comms. "Scans are showing a high concentration of Galra in the hangar."

She set her jaw. "They're trying to cut us off from our lions."

Lance tightened his grip on his blaster. "How are we gonna get past them?"

"Well," Pidge suggested, "there's the certified Keith method of 'eject your problems into the void of space'."

"Bad idea." The words were said in unison––Lance, Matt, Sam, even Keith, all speaking at the same time.

"Fine," she relented with an eyeroll as they came up to the doors leading into the hangar. "We'll do it the blasty way." They stopped in front of the doors, and Pidge straightened. "Lance, you take point. As soon as the doors are open enough, start firing."

"You got it."

"Keith, keep your shield up and skirt around the side until you reach your lion. I'll tell you when it's clear to go."

He nodded decisively.

"I'll cover defense," she finished, activating her shield. She turned towards her dad and Matt. "And _you_ ," she added firmly. " _Please_. Just stay out of the way until we give the all clear."

"Yeah, not happening," Matt said. He hefted the blaster he'd taken earlier. "I'm not just gonna stand around and do _nothing_."

"Matt, I'm not arguing with you about this."

"Good." He took up position beside Lance. "Cuz I'm not either."

" _Matt_."

Sam sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Please, you two, can't you go just five minutes without trying to strangle each other?"

Lance was smirking insufferably. "Ready?"

"Opening doors," Keith responded, laying a hand on the scanner.

"I hate you guys," Pidge crouched a half-step in front of Lance and her brother, using her shield to cover them as the sentries––at least three dozen of them––opened fire. Lance and Matt fired back, and when enough had been knocked down, Pidge yelled, "Now, Keith!"

Keith ran along the right flank, using his sword to take down any sentries who got in his way. Once across the room, he raced inside Red's mouth. Red's eyes flashed as her paladin settled into the cockpit, and she roared to life. A few pounces and blasts––and the last of the Galra were down. "All clear," he called triumphantly.

Lance cheered, stowing his bayard and heading into the hangar. Pidge smiled. "Nice job, Keith," she congratulated, deactivating her shield. "Now let's get out of here."

She held out a hand to her father, and he took it, shaking his head. "You're going to give me a heart attack from all your reckless abandonment."

"We're your kids, Dad," Matt said with a light smile, dropping his blaster. "That's kind of our job."

The three of them followed Lance into the hangar, heading towards where the Green Lion waited, her shields still up.

Matt skidded to a halt as he took in the two lions before him. "Wow."

Pidge turned to glance at him over her shoulder. "I told you we had giant magic robot lions, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Matt squeaked. "You did. I just…it's a lot to take in."

"They really are something," their father agreed.

Pidge smirked, putting her hands on her hips. "You guys ready to see the inside too?" She continued walking towards Green, and the lion dropped her shield. She bowed, opening her mouth to allow Pidge to enter.

Lance stood at the base of the ramp and gestured for Matt and Sam to follow her in. "After you."

"Giant magic robots," Sam murmured, repeating what Pidge had said earlier, awestruck as he climbed inside. "Absolutely astounding."

In the cockpit, Pidge's hands flew across the controls. She could see Keith through their vidlink, his image projected onto the side of her main display viewscreen. "I'll go out first and clear a path for you," he told her. "Follow my lead."

"Copy. Coran, open the hangar doors for us."

"You got it, Number Five."

As soon as the bay doors were open wide enough, the Red Lion blasted out, with Green following a tick later.

"And, we're out!" Pidge announced as they shot away from the ship. "Light it up."

Keith grinned. "With pleasure." He opened fire, sending a blast of superheated fire towards the warship. "I've got this covered; you take care of the fighters."

"On it."

There weren't too many of them––Reggar had spread himself too thin what with trying to hold both Vallen and his warship. Pidge took them on easily, despite their efforts to swarm her.

A fighter broke away from the main cluster, coming at them head-on.

"Pidge," Lance warned.

"I see it." She pulled Green into a dive.

"Two-o-clock," Lance continued, staring out of the lion. "Watch the right flank. Ack! Your _other_ right!"

"Lance," she threatened.

"Do a barrel roll!"

"Lance, I will eject you out of this ship."

"Gee thanks, Pidge, I love you too."

Matt gripped the back of the pilot's chair. "Can't you form Voltron?"

Pidge shook her head. "Only got four lions in play. Blue is still at the castle."

"I came in with Pidge," Lance agreed. "Not to mention Black and Yellow are down on Vallen."

Pidge punched one of her joysticks forward, firing at the last of the fighters ahead of her. Deep olive-toned vines burst out of them, and Pidge sat back with a smirk. "That's the last of the fighters. Keith?"

"Could use some backup."

It was Allura who answered, flying the castle towards the warship. "Just a tick." The castle opened fire, sending a wide blast of concentrated energy towards the warship. When it hit the engines, the entire ship started to blow.

Sam stared out the cockpit, watching as the spacecraft combusted. "Wow."

"Bye, Reggar," Pidge added remorselessly. Without sparing the ship any more than a second glance, she pulled up her comms display. "Shiro? Hunk? What's your status?"

There was a moment before they heard Shiro's voice answer. "Just about taken care of. Was that explosion the warship?"

"Yep," Keith replied. "We're all clear."

"Good work," Shiro told them. "Keith, Pidge, head back to the castle. Meet us down here in a dobosh."

"Copy that, Shiro," Pidge answered. "Allura, we're coming in."

"I'll open the doors to your hangars," the princess responded.

Pidge watched the bay doors, waiting until they closed fully before stating, "Green and Blue secure."

"Red secure," Keith echoed.

"Shiro, we're coming down," Allura announced.

Pidge barely registered as the castle began its descent. She breathed deep, focusing her thoughts as the adrenaline rush wore off. "That's it," she murmured. She pulled up her legs, sitting crisscross in her chair. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she pressed a hand to her face, starting to laugh. "That's really it."

Lance propped himself up on the back of her chair, leaning towards her. His mouth quirked in a lopsided smile. "You okay, Pidge?"

"I can't believe that's _it_."

"Yeah, okay." He reached over, placing a hand on her arm and helping her gently out of her chair. "Let's go."

"I can stand on my own, Lance."

"I know." He turned towards Matt and Sam, offering them a tentative smile. "Come on. It's cramped in here. Proper reunions can happen _outside_ of the lion. Let's go."

Pidge giggled weakly as she let him guide her out of the cockpit and into Green's bay. "You dork."

They felt the castle touch down on the planet Vallen, listening as the whirr of the engines quieted to a low hum.

Pidge wiped at her lingering tears, looking towards her family ( _they're_ _ **here**_ _, they're_ _ **actually here!**_ ) with a smile. "Shiro will be waiting outside," she told them. "Let's…let's go meet up with the rest of the team."

* * *

 **AN** :

WOW those comments on the last chapter!  
You guys are great, those comments made me smile so damn much. Love you! 3

Well, this adventure is drawing to a close. Only one chapter to go! Thank you, everyone, for reading!

In related news: I made my little sister start watching Voltron on Saturday night. (She's 14 which means she's the same age as Pidge and that just really ?! with me, like _jeez_ Pidge is _so young_.)  
She told me her favorite character is "probably the emo one".  
She also said that Shiro's "eyeliner is on fleek" and I actually had to pause the show cuz I started laughing so hard.

By the way, some of you may have already noticed this, but I posted a new Voltron fic! It's a Garrison Trio Pidge-centric oneshot, entitled 'Peanut Butter Cookies'. It'd be super awesome if you guys checked it out!

As always, thank you all so much for your continued support! You guys are the best

~Brigit


	11. Isometric

**Chapter 11: Isometric**

* * *

 _An epilogue of sorts_  
 _Also a chapter told entirely in Matt's POV cuz I love him_

* * *

The liberation of Vallen was over before the castle even landed. And while Shiro and the princess—Allura, Katie said her name was?—spoke with the prisoners there, Matt and his father had been pressured into the infirmary. Katie had gone on about what she called a 'healing pod', insisting that they both needed to spend time in one. After weak protests, Katie had won, and the strange mustached man had helped each of them into a white bodysuit.

The last thing Matt saw before succumbing to the cold and to the sleep was Katie's face, smiling happier than he'd seen her in ages. "I'll be right here when you wake up," she'd told them. "I promise."

Then his eyes had closed.

Hours later, the cold air receded and he woke up as the pod opened.

The room was dark and still. Faint mechanical hums stood out in the quiet, and the only light came from the pale blue glow of the healing pods. Next to his own, his father rested peacefully.

He stumbled, disoriented, taking in the room around him.

Katie lay curled up on the floor. She wasn't in her armor, instead wearing a baggy green-and-white shirt and a pair of gray cargo shorts. A laptop lay beside her, long since powered down, and one of her hands rested lightly on the keyboard.

Matt smiled, sitting down beside her. "Hey there, sis," he murmured. He pushed the laptop away, closing it firmly. He took her hand in his, drinking in how _peaceful_ she looked.

 _Safe_. He reveled in the fact. _We're safe. She's actually here_.

"You're awake."

Matt looked up, glancing towards the doorway. A figure stood there—a teenage boy. He was wearing all black, and his dark hair hung loosely around his face. In his hands he carried a pillow and a large blanket.

Matt tried to remember his name, but he'd never seen any of the other paladins out of their armor. "Hi."

"We weren't expecting you to wake up yet," the paladin (was this the red one?) continued, walking over. "Estimates said you still had a few more hours." He knelt beside Katie, setting down the blanket. "She'll be sorry she missed you."

Matt relaxed, smiling. "I'll still be here when she wakes up," he murmured.

"She tends to do this a lot," the paladin told him. "She'll stay awake for as long as she can…and then she'll just crash and fall asleep wherever she happens to be." He gently lifted her head, slipping the pillow beneath. "We've all sorta gotten into the habit of finding wherever she's passed out and then carrying her back to her room. But tonight…I thought she'd rather stay here with you." He shook out the blanket, spreading out over Katie. He paused, glancing at Matt suddenly. "Do you, uh, do you want me to get you another blanket or something…?"

Matt laughed. "Thank you, but I'm okay."

The paladin only nodded, seemly unsure of what to say next. "I, uh…."

"I'm sorry," Matt said, shaking his head. "I don't think we were properly introduced." He held out his hand to the paladin. "I'm Matt. Matt Holt."

"Keith Kogane," he replied, shaking Matt's hand.

Matt paused, furrowing his eyebrows. "Wait…Shiro's little brother?"

Keith froze. "I…brother?"

"Yeah; you were at the Garrison, weren't you?" Seeing Keith's wide-eyed and flustered look, Matt nearly laughed. "Dude, he practically _adopted_ you. So you may not be related by blood. _Whatever_. You're still brothers."

"No, no, I get that," Keith hastened to assure him. "I just…didn't realize he talked about me."

Matt laughed. "Shiro and I were _roommates_ , back at the Garrison," he said with a smile. "He's my best friend. Of _course_ he told me about you."

They settled into comfortable silence, sitting on either side of Katie, watching the stars go by through the window. Katie shifted in her sleep, burying herself deeper into her pillow, mumbling something about peanut butter and someone called Kaltenecker.

Matt chuckled, watching her fondly. "I'm glad she's getting some rest."

"Yeah, I think you can speak for all of us there," Keith muttered. "She hasn't really been sleeping well lately."

Matt furrowed his brow. "Is…she okay?"

Keith exhaled, long and slow. "She'll be fine," he said eventually. "It's just been rough, these past few weeks." Matt was silent, and Keith took that as a signal to keep going. "She just wasn't in the best place when we found her," he continued. "She told us about what happened. We headed straight there…but you were already gone. After that, well, she was angry. At the Galra. At Zarkon. But mostly, I think, at herself."

"Thank you for being there for her."

Keith seemed a bit taken aback for a moment, but he quickly relaxed. "Of course. She…really means a lot to me." He pulled his legs up against his chest, resting his chin on his knees. "I never really had much of a family back on Earth," he confessed. "Team Voltron is about as close to family as I've got."

Matt quirked a lopsided grin. "Well, any family of Katie's is family of mine. So, in that case, welcome to the family."

Keith let out a laugh, but he seemed a bit tense, uneasy about something.

Matt's smile faded, and he looked at him curiously. "Can I ask you something?"

Keith looked at him askance. "Yeah, go ahead."

"Back on the ship, with Reggar," Matt started, "Katie…she called you Galra." Keith froze. "But you don't look Galra," Matt continued. "And you're from Earth. Right?"

Keith sighed. "I don't even know the full story, to be honest," he said. "But to answer your question…yes. I'm part Galra. I don't know how much, but…." He cast his gaze downwards. "I only found out recently. I'm still coming to terms with it myself." He seemed to be bracing himself for the worst, closing his eyes, hugging himself. "If…if that makes you uncomfortable, I understand," he whispered.

Matt's eyes widened and he shook his head quickly. "No! No way." Keith looked up at him in shock, and Matt cautiously reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. "Dude. You saved my life. You saved my _baby sister's_ life. I trust you."

Keith _melted_. The look in his eyes was filled with such surprise, such compassion, such _adoration_. Then he smiled.

 _Well_ , Matt thought wryly. _I guess I've got a brother now._ But he found he didn't mind the thought. Welcomed it, really.

Between them, Katie shifted again. "Would you nerds just cut it out already and go to sleep?"

Keith snorted, and Matt struggled to hold back his own laughter. "Sorry, Katie." He glanced over at Keith. "You wanna just, like, crash here for the night?"

"In…the infirmary?"

Matt was already lying down, yawning. "Mm. Always liked slumber parties."

Keith laughed. "I'll go get some more blankets."

* * *

The rest of the team had come to join them within the next few hours. Hunk had procured what tasted like the alien equivalent of hot chocolate, and Lance accused them of having a slumber party without them; but the two of them joined Matt, Keith, and Katie in their impromptu blanket fort, passing out mugs of the hot cocoa. Shiro had come into the infirmary not too much later, and, at the insistence of Matt and Katie, had sat down to join them. When Allura and Coran had entered, it was to the sight of their five paladins along with Matt all swaddled in blankets and contently drinking hot chocolate. "It's a very important and common Earth ritual for unwinding after stressful events," Katie told them, to which the rest of them dutifully nodded. And when Sam woke up, they had another blanket and steaming mug waiting for him.

Both Matt and his sister wrapped their arms around him, and the three of them embraced. "Hi, Dad," Katie squeaked through her tears.

"Oh my little girl," he whispered. "Katie, darling, I am so proud of you."

As he pulled away from the hug, his eyes fell on Shiro, standing nearby with a soft smile. Shiro reached out to shake his hand. "It's good to see you, Commander."

Sam chuckled, completely forgoing the handshake to instead pull him into a hug. "How many times do I have to tell you this, Shiro? Please. Call me Sam."

Shiro let out a laugh, reciprocating the hug. "Yes, sir."

" _Takashi_."

"Come on, I need to introduce you to everyone!" Katie bubbled, taking her father by the arm. "You met Lance and Keith earlier," she said, gesturing to the group of boys, "and this is Hunk—"

"Doctor Holt, it is such an honor to finally meet you," Hunk gushed, shaking his hand enthusiastically. "I've read all your books. _Going Beyond Terrestrial Engineering_ is what inspired me to enroll at the Garrison."

Sam laughed good-naturedly. "I'm glad to hear that!"

Katie's eyes were comically wide, and she had both her hands pressed to her mouth, doing nothing to smother the massive smile on her face. "Hunk!" she squealed. "You didn't tell me you were a _fan_!"

Hunk's flushed, his expression morphing into one of embarrassment. "I—"

"Dude," Lance interjected. "I had a _poster of Shiro on my wall_. No one's gonna judge you."

Matt nearly choked on his drink. "You _what?_ "

"Alright," Shiro said firmly. "Enough of that."

Sam laughed again. "It's good to meet all of you," he said. "Hunk, I would love to speak with you further on your studies."

Hunk's eyes were sparkling. "I—yes, wow, thank you!"

Sam turned towards the other two in the room, the Alteans, and he held out a hand to them. "And you must be Allura and Coran?"

Allura was wiping at her eyes, trying to compose herself. She clasped his hand firmly. "Welcome aboard the Castle of Lions," she said. "We are all very happy to have you here with us."

"Absolutely," Coran agreed. "Number Five has told us a lot about you. And it's always exciting meeting new humans!"

Out of nowhere, Katie's eyes widened, and she gasped. "Oh my god, Matt, I almost forgot! I'll be right back." Without another word, she took off.

When she returned a couple minutes later, she was carefully cradling something in her hands. "Um, these are yours," she told Matt, holding out her hands towards him. "I've been holding onto them for you."

He glanced down, surprised. "My glasses?"

She nodded, almost sheepishly. "They were part of my disguise when I was sneaking into the Garrison," she confessed, "and so I sorta brought them out here with me. For when we found you."

He took the glasses almost reverently. "Katie, I—" His voice cracked. "Thank you."

"Oh, hey," Lance said suddenly. "That actually reminds me. Pidge?"

Katie turned towards him. "Yeah?"

"I know I've asked this before," he began, "and you said Pidge was fine…but do you want us to start calling you Katie? Now that, you know, they're here?"

She paused, then smiled. "I like being Pidge," she told him. "I've gotten pretty used to it."

Matt frowned, taking that it. He glanced at her curiously. "Do…do you want us to call you Pidge too?"

For a moment, she seemed taken aback. "I—I don't know," she fretted. "I mean. You can call me whatever? I guess? Either is fine. Katie's fine. I mean, I haven't been Katie in so long, it's kinda nice, ya know? But I don't want anyone to get confused or anything. And you don't have to go out of your way to try to use a different name if you don't really want to—"

Sam put a hand on her back, and she paused in her rambling. "Alright," he said gently. "Katie. Pidge. You're fine."

She breathed deeply, relaxing into his touch. "Thanks, Dad."

"While this has been a nice respite," the princess said, "we really must get focused back on the main plan here."

"The princess is right," Shiro agreed. "We have a lot of work to do."

Lance sighed. "Yes, sir, Space Dad."

Matt frowned. "Right away?"

"That's the life of a Voltron paladin," his sister said with a shrug. "We do not get a break."

"There is still some time before we reach our next position," Coran said. "We need to get the castle to a point about equidistant from Olkarion, the Balmera, Beta Traz, the weblum…. It will take a bit for us to get there."

Shiro furrowed his brow. "Can't we do a wormhole jump?"

"Ah, we _could_ ," Coran replied. "But it'd be best for Allura to save her energy. We'll need that for later."

"So what I'm getting here," Hunk said slowly, "is that we _do_ get a break?"

Allura sighed. "For a little while longer, I suppose. But please, be ready to go once the castle is in position."

Lance was grinning, nearly bouncing up and down on his toes. "You got it, Allura! Alright, I wanna try to figure out that Altean pool. I'll catch you guys later!" Before anyone could say anything, he took off.

"In the meantime," Allura continued, glancing towards Matt and his father. "We should get the two of you a change of clothing. And would you like a tour of the castle?"

* * *

It was later when Matt went looking for his sister. He wandered the castle aimlessly, remembering what he could from the tour Allura had given them. Afterwards, she and Coran had headed to the bridge; the rest of the team had splintered off throughout the tour, mentioning other preparations they needed to do before they went on for their next mission.

When there was no answer at the door to Katie's—Pidge's—room, he frowned. This was correct, wasn't it? He double-checked, seeing the telltale green light on the panel by the door, and nodded to himself. Yes, this was her room. So where was she?

He wandered a bit further down the hall, knocking on the next door he saw. A "Come in!" came from inside, and so Matt slid the door open. Lance turned to face him, pulling his shirt on. "Oh, hey, man."

"Have you seen my sister?"

Lance frowned. "Did you try her room?"

"She wasn't there."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Huh." He left the room, coming to stand beside Matt in the hallway, clapping him on the shoulder. "Alright, she shouldn't be too hard to find. Then again, knowing her, she could be asleep in a vent or something."

He started wandering down the hall, and Matt paused, staring after him. "She what?"

"She falls asleep in the weirdest places," Lance called, not even bothering to turn around. "If I find her, I'll tell her you're looking for her."

Matt sighed. "Thanks." He turned, heading in the other direction. After a while, he found himself back in another section of the castle he recognized. Wasn't this near where he'd woken up? Yes, he was pretty sure that the cryo-pod chamber was that door at the end of the hall—

There were voices coming from one of the open doors ahead.

"We'll need to take off your shirt so I can take care of this properly. Is that okay?"

"Yeah. I've got my binder on."

He paused. Wasn't that her voice? And…Keith? Matt poked his head through the doorway to check it out.

Pidge sat on what looked like an examination table from the doctor's office. Her green-and-white shirt was lying beside her, leaving her in a strapless top of some kind––a chest binder, she'd said?

Keith was perched next to her, holding her arm in one hand and some kind of jar in the other. He was gently spreading a layer of salve over her left shoulder. "You shouldn't have kept this to yourself."

"It's fine," she insisted. "Barely feel it."

Keith's hand rubbed a bit closer to the red mark on her shoulder, and she flinched. He stilled, glancing at her and raising an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

"Shut up."

He sighed, setting down the jar of healing salve and picking up a roll of bandages.

In the doorway, Matt stood watching in shock. "What happened?"

Pidge turned to him in surprise. "Matt!"

"Are you okay?!"

She let out a groan. "I'm _fine!_ "

Keith rolled his eyes. "Keep telling yourself that," he muttered. He held up the bandages. "Now hold still."

She kept her eyes downcast as Keith carefully wrapped the bandages around her shoulder, stubbornly refusing to meet the frantic eyes of her brother.

"Katie," he pleaded.

She broke.

"It's nothing to worry about," she insisted quietly. "I don't need a healing pod or anything. I had my armor on. And even then, it just grazed me." She glared at her clenched hands. "Stupid Galra and their stupid laser guns."

Matt sighed.

"Alright," Keith announced as he finished. "We'll need to replace the bandages periodically. Find me tomorrow morning and we can take care of that."

She nodded, rotating her shoulder experimentally. "Thanks, Keith."

He just smiled and ruffled her hair. "Next time, maybe _tell_ someone when you get shot," he admonished, standing up.

"Yeah, yeah, responsibility and stuff."

He sighed, shaking his head. He clapped Matt on the shoulder on his way out. "Don't let her over-exert herself," he instructed Matt as he headed into the hall.

"I heard that!" Pidge called.

"Good."

He wandered off, leaving Matt and his sister alone.

Pidge tugged her shirt back on sullenly, wincing a bit as she flexed her shoulder.

Matt was silent for a minute. When he finally spoke, he simply stated, "You got _shot_."

She sighed. "I really am fine," she assured him. "It's nothing major."

" _Nothing major?_ " Matt repeated, flabbergasted. "It—you—," he sputtered. "Katie!"

Pidge smiled wryly. "You know, that's the same thing Lance said when I got back to the castle and he found out I'd fractured a rib."

" _KATIE!_ "

She winced. "Sorry. But that's all taken care of. See? I'm all better now."

"Except for the burn on your shoulder."

She closed her eyes in defeat. "Yeah. 'Cept for that."

"Why didn't you mention something earlier?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

"I didn't want to worry you."

"Katie, I'm your _brother_. It's my _job_ to worry about you."

"That's just the thing!" she exclaimed. She paused, exhaling heavily. "When I left Serva, it was only a few hours before they all picked me up," she murmured. "I managed to get a strong enough signal out and they found me pretty much right away. And after I told them all what happened…." She broke off. She pulled up her legs and hugged them to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. "By the time we got back to Serva, you were already gone," she murmured. "And we didn't know where you were, or how to find you. We didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do." She squeezed her eyes shut. "And it's like everyone was trying to fill that hole. For _days_. They were just…always _there_. Asking if I was okay, if I needed anything, if I wanted company." Her voice was rising in pitch, frantic. "And…on the one hand, it's really nice. To know that they care about me like that. I mean, we're a team, and we're supposed to support each other. But it kinda goes deeper than that too." She rested her forehead on her knees, burying her face. "But on the other hand…it's _suffocating_." She paused to take a breath, and sighed. "What I'm getting at here, is that I'm not _fragile_. I'm not gonna break. I can take care of myself."

"I know."

"I mean, Shiro was always like an overprotective mom. But _the rest of them?_ Since when does Keith have feelings?!"

Matt laughed, thinking back on his conversation with the Red Paladin the night before. "Yeah, well, that's what it's like when your family gets hurt. And you told me yourself: they're like family."

"Yeah," she whispered. "I guess so."

They fell into silence.

"So…," Matt mused. "Shiro mentioned you have another mission coming up."

"Yep." She made a popping sound with the 'p'. "Beta Traz."

"What's that exactly?"

"High security space prison. Built specifically to contain one prisoner. We need to break in there and get him out."

He nudged her playfully. "Is that all you guys do? Prison breaks?"

She huffed. "Feels like it sometimes," she told him. "Jailbreaks and liberating planets."

He paused, thinking. She was _fourteen_. And already, she was facing things that no one should ever have to. She was a child soldier conscripted into an intergalactic war that had been raging for thousands of years.

"So you're going into combat," he said softly. "Are you sure you're gonna be okay? I mean. With your injured shoulder?"

"I'll be fine," she promised him. "Lance and Shiro will be there."

"Mm."

That's another thing—the rest of the paladins weren't too much older than her. Shiro was really the only adult. How old were the other three? Seventeen?

Pidge was watching him curiously, and after a moment, she reached out to take him by the hands. "Hey, Matt? I know that the stuff I do can get scary," she murmured. "It gets dangerous. I've…I've had a lot of close calls. But also, at the same time, this is the most incredible experience I've ever had." She sighed. "I know you're always gonna worry about me. Cuz we're family. But just keep in mind," she instructed, a smile starting to tug at the corner of her lips. "I'm gonna do some insane stuff and you're probably gonna freak out. But just know that I've already _done_ a whole lot of insane dangerous stuff; I know what I'm doing."

"That's really not making me feel any better."

She laughed, and the tension started to ease.

"The thing is," she added after a moment, her smile falling. "Things are gonna get real crazy, real fast. I mean, we've got Beta Traz to deal with now. But it's only gonna get crazier after that."

His brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"We have…a very extensive plan. Beta Traz is only one step."

"So what happens next?"

She took a deep breath, looking him in the eye. "We find Zarkon," she said. "And we take him out."

* * *

 **AN** :

The first chapter: posted on Pidge's birthday  
The last chapter: posted on my birthday  
What a nice parallel

Also it's like 7am so enjoy this super early installment. I went and got myself a summer job like some kind of """responsible adult""" and I start at 8am today. So that means you guys get the chapter bright and early!

A chapter of pure fluff to ease the sting of earlier chapters  
My working title for this chapter was 'they all go back to the castle and live happily ever after'

The title for Sam's book was supplied by my own father, who also happens to be an aerospace engineer (though my dad's not also an astronaut like Pidge's, haha). So that's a cool thing?  
Hunk being a fan of Sam's is something I've seen in several other fics and it's a hc that I LOVE. I emmay/em write a oneshot on that later? We'll see.

In other news: my sister finished season 2 of Voltron on Saturday! She told me her favorite character was now probably Pidge. Partially because she said I rubbed off on her. Partially because "she's the same age as me. Also she's tiny, like me."

Anyways  
This concludes _Singularity_!  
The rest of the story would progress as it does in the show, just with the addition of Matt and Sam along for the ride. (Imagining their reactions to the s2 finale destroys me, oi).

I do have a couple, like, extra bits and deleted scenes and stuff? If enough people are interested, maybe I'll post them on my tumblr or something. Let me know!

One HC of mine that I didn't manage to work into this fic: Matt and Lance end up getting along very well, and they come up with an extremely intricate and overly complicated best friends' handshake. This is canon. Fight me.

Thank you all so much for coming along on this crazy adventure!

And a HUGE Thank You to my wonderful beta! Seifert, my dear, I don't know what I'd do without you. Love you! Thanks for putting up with me and my constant rambles.

Come hang with me on Tumblr! My url is this-book-has-been-loved, and there's a link in my bio.

~Brigit


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